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It's a Most Unusual Day

Written: 1948

Music by: Jimmy McHugh

Words by: Harold Adamson

Written for: A Date with Judy
(movie, 1948)
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On the Main Stage at Cafe Songbook


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video before starting another.)

June Christy

performing

"It's a Most Unusual Day"

with Stan Kenton and His Orchestra,

Live performance originally released
on the album Road Show
(recorded 1959, released 1960)

Amazon

More Performances of "It's a Most Unusual Day"
in the Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet
(Video credit )

 

Cafe Songbook Reading Room

"It's a Most Unusual Day"

Critics Corner || Lyrics Lounge
About the Movie A Date with Judy / Origins of the Song

Other songs written for A Date with Judy currently included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook: none

 

For a complete listing of songs used in the original production of this movie, see IMDB Soundtrack.

 

DVD cover: A Date with Judy
DVD
A Date with Judy
1948

Amazon

 

 


I Feel a Song Coming On: The Life of Jimmy McHugh
Alyn Shipton,
I Feel a Song Coming On: The Life of Jimmy McHugh,
University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 2009

Amazon

 

"It's a Most Unusual Day" is introduced in A Date with Judy (1948) by Jane Powell (title character Judy sings the song with the school orchestra at the high school in the opening scene where she is joined by Elizabeth Taylor). It is also sung later in the movie by Elizabeth Taylor, and once more in the finale by the cast ensemble.



Jane Powell and then Elizabeth Taylor (dubbed by Jean McLaren) sing
"It's a Most Unusual Day" in the 1948 movie
A Date with Judy.



Jane Powell and ensemble (including Elizabeth Taylor, Carmen Miranda, Wallace Beery, Xavier Cugat, Robert Stack, Scotty Beckett, Selena Royle, Leon Ames, George Cleveland, and Jerry Hunter) perform "It's a Most Unusual Day" in the finale to
A Date with Judy (1948)

 

Alyn Shipton in his biography [See in left column] of composer Jimmy McHugh writes, "Perhaps their (McHugh's and Adamson's) best cinema song was also one of their last, 'It's a Most Unusual Day' . . . which was written for Jane Powell. The film was composed during one McHugh's final contracts at MGM after almost two decades of writing movie songs" (Shipton, p. 184).

 
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Critics Corner (This section is currently in preparation.)

book cover: Alec Wilder, "American Popular Song" 1900-1950

Alec Wilder, American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950, New York: Oxford University Press, 1972. (paper-bound edition shown)

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Alec Wilder would seem to agree with Alyn Shypton's high rating (just above) for "It's a Most Unusual Day." He writes:

I find {"It's a Most Unusual Day] to be a waltz in the grand Richard Rodgers manner. It's what is known as a waltz "in one," that is, the three beats of the measure are conducted in one sweep of the baton. And it's everything one asks of a truly waltzing waltz. It's romantic, direct, uncluttered and extended beyond normal length. It's seventy-two measures and none too long. It sweeps and soars and sings. . . . This is a great, free, happy and healthy waltz. (Wilder pp. 410 and 411, hardcover Ed.)
   
   
   
   
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Lyrics Lounge


book cover: "Reading Lyrics" Ed. by Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball
Reading Lyrics,
Edited and with an Introduction by Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball, New York: Pantheon Books, 2000.

 

Authoriative Lyrics for
"It's a Most Unusual Day"
can be found in the volume shown above.

 

Most recorded performances of "It's a Most Unusual Day," including even Jane Powell's performance in the movie A Date with Judy (for which the song was written) exclude, both music and lyrics for the verse as written by Jimmy McHugh (music) and Harold Adamson (words). Of the performances included in the Cafe Songbook Record/Video Cabinet (this page), only Michael Feinstein (who is pretty much a stickler for singing the lyrics as originally written), Wesla Whitfield and Jodi Sandhaus keep the verse. The others just cut it from their recordings. (Feinstein, it should be noted, keeps it but shifts its position to after the refrain before repeating it (a not that unusual move). Just below we have repeated Sandhaus' 2001 recording so you can hear the verse, placed at the beginning of the song, as the songwriters originally intended.


Jodi Sanhaus' 2001 recording of "It's a Most Unusual Day"
in which she includes the verse.

To set the verse off even more sharply, Sandhaus sings it in ballad tempo before picking things up for the remainder of her performance.

Here is the verse as Adamson wrote it and only Sandhaus, as well as Feinstein and Whitfield -- among all of our selected recordings -- sing it:

I woke up singing this morning,
Got out of the right side of bed.
I woke up singing this morning
And wondering what was ahead.
I took one good look at the sun
And was I the luckiest one!

The lyric begins with the title as the first line of an opening couplet:

It's a most unusual day,
Feel like throwing my worries away.

that pretty much captures the lyric's mostly optimistic theme. It's a gorgeous day that makes the singer feel carefree as if he/she is falling in love. The first couplet is immediately followed by a second somewhat more perplexing one:

As an old native born Californian would say,
It's a most unusual day.

Does the singer mean southern California days do not typically make people feel like being carefree, like throwing their worries away, like falling in love (like "throwing their heart[s] in the ring?" --a line that suggests that falling in love will involve taking a few punches along the way? Apparently the lyric will not answer such a question. It will only assert, "It's a most unusual day."

Although lyricist Harold Adamson might qualify as an "old . . . Californian," having been in Hollywood long enough to work on sixty-five movie songs including five that were nominated for Academy Awards, he was not "native born" coming originally from New Jersey and having gone to Harvard where he contributed to the legendary Hasty Pudding shows. Jane Powell's character Judy who sings the song in the movie "A Date with Judy" was most likely a native of the state, and is a high school student who was undoubtedly speaking figuratively when she describes herself as "an old native born Californian ," perfectly within the realm of poetic license of course, something that a "worldly" high school senior might indeed say about herself especially when she is under the spell of "a most unusual day" not to mention a day on which she feels like falling in love, like "throwing her heart in the ring" -- taking a chance on whatever that may lead to.
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Visitor Comments

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Posted Comments on "It's a Most Unusual Day":

 

From: IJMA 10/21/2018: After watching the film 'North By Northwest' for almost the 50th time I realized that the song being played as Cary Grant's character (Roger Thornhill) enters the Plaza Hotel is 'It's A Most Unusual Day'. And it certainly was an unusual day for him.

Cafe Songbook responds: Thanks for the comment. Here is a portion of the North by Northwest Soundtrack featuring "It's a Most Unusual Day" played by MGM studio musicians.

 
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Credits

("It's a Most Unusual Day" page)

 

Credits for Videomakers of custom videos used on this page:

  • Jane Powell sings "It's a Most Unusual Day" and Finale from A Date with Judy: MrBearNaked

Borrowed material (text): The sources of all quoted and paraphrased text are cited. Such content is used under the rules of fair use to further the educational objectives of CafeSongbook.com. CafeSongbook.com makes no claims to rights of any kind in this content or the sources from which it comes.

 

Borrowed material (images): Images of CD, DVD, book and similar product covers are used courtesy of either Amazon.com or iTunes/LinkShare with which CafeSongbook.com maintains an affiliate status. All such images are linked to the source from which they came (i.e. either iTunes/LinkShare or Amazon.com).

 

Any other images that appear on CafeSongbook.com pages are either in the public domain or appear through the specific permission of their owners. Such permission will be acknowledged in this space on the page where the image is used.

 

For further information on Cafe Songbook policies with regard to the above matters, see our "About Cafe Songbook" page (link at top and bottom of every page).

The Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet:
Selected Recordings of

"It's a Most Unusual Day"


(All Record/Video Cabinet entries below
include a music-video
of this page's featured song.
The year given is for when the studio
track was originally laid down
or when the live performance was given.)
Performer/Recording Index

1947
Ray Noble and The Noblemen
with vocal by Anita Gordon
album: Big Band Legends

Amazon

Notes:
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1951
Peggy Lee
album: At Last: The Lost Radio Recordings

Amazon

Notes: Peggy Lee sang "It's a Most Unusual Day on her CBS radio show July 29, 1951 (Broadcast Date) with Russ Case And His Orchestra (accomanying), Peggy Lee (v).

Amazon Editorial review of album: As one of the greatest and most popular female pop singers working during radio s Golden Age, Peggy Lee made her share of appearances on the dial, particularly on her own radio show that, starting in 1951, was broadcast over the CBS network and the Armed Forces Radio Service. But, unlike many of her contemporaries who have had their on-air performances compiled into collections both legitimate and not, Peggy has never really enjoyed a proper retrospective of her radio appearances...until now! The 44 tracks on At Last The Lost Radio Recordings consists ENTIRELY of songs Peggy never recorded commercially, ranging from popular standards to novelty numbers to songs popularized by such esteemed peers as Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore, Jo Stafford, Kay Starr and Margaret Whiting, with musical direction by Sonny Burke in Los Angeles and Russ Case in New York. Most of these recordings haven t been heard since they were originally broadcast, and as this is the first-ever collection of its kind licensed directly from the Peggy Lee estate, this 2-CD set offers superior sound with remastering by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, rarely-seen photos, and expert liner notes by David Torresen, long-time editor of PeggyLee.com, her official website. Many folks feel that Peggy never sang as well as she did in the early and mid-1950s; her maturity (in her thirties) and confidence had fully blossomed, her phrasing perfected and the timbre of her voice was pure gossamer. Listening to her interpret this new material is a revelation an absolute must-have and a major, historic addition to the Peggy Lee discography and legacy!


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1958
Chris Connor
album: A Jazz Date with Chris Connor

Amazon

Notes: The album title, A Jazz Date with Chris Connor, appears to be an allusion to the movie A Date with Judy for which "A Most Unusual Day" was written. Clearly, Chris Connor's recording is a straight ahead jazz version of Jane Powell's performance (Powell plays the title character.) in the film from 1948, made a decade before this recording.
Personnel for the album include: Bass Guitar: Oscar Pettiford Bongo Drums: Chino Pozo Congas: Mongo Santamaria Digital Remasterer: Gene Paul Drums: Osie Johnson Flute: Sam Most Guitar: Joe Puma Piano: Ralph Sharon Producer: Nesuhi Ertegun Re-issue Supervisor: Gary Peterson Re-issue Supervisor: Patrick Milligan Recording Engineer: Bob Doherty Recording Engineer: Johnny Cue Researcher: Michael Mazzarella Researcher: Will Friedwald Tenor Saxophone: Al Cohn Tenor Saxophone: Lucky Thompson Trumpet: Joe Wilder Vibes: Eddie Costa Vocals: Chris Connor; Arranger: Ralph Sharon
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1958
Beverly Kenney
album: Sings for Playboys

Amazon

Notes: Jason Ankeny writes for iTunes on Beverly Kenney:

"Born in Harrison, NJ, on January 29, 1932, Kenney began her career singing birthday greetings via telephone for Western Union. Ultimately she relocated to New York City, and in 1954 cut her first demo session with pianist Tony Tamburello (finally issued in 2006 under the title Snuggled on Your Shoulder). By year's end Kenney relocated to Miami, soon securing an agent and appearing at the Black Magic Room. There she was discovered by the Dorsey Brothers, spending several months on tour with their orchestra before creative differences prompted her exit. From there Kenney returned to New York, working clubs in the company of George Shearing, Don Elliott, and Kai Winding in addition to briefly touring the Midwest with the Larry Sonn Band before signing to the Roost label, which in early 1956 issued her debut LP, Beverly Kenny Sings for Johnny Smith. Come Swing with Me, a pairing with arranger Ralph Burns, followed later that same year, and in the spring of 1957 she teamed with Jimmy Jones & the Basie-Ites for her final effort for the label.

"Kenney resurfaced on Decca in 1958 with Sings for Playboys -- her masterpiece, Born to Be Blue, soon followed, and a year later she issued her swan song, Like Yesterday. Critics and fellow artists were virtually unanimous in their praise of Kenney's artistry, but the emergence of rock & roll virtually guaranteed she would remain anonymous to the public at large. Tellingly, during a May 18, 1958, appearance on NBC's The Steve Allen Show, she performed an original composition titled "I Hate Rock and Roll." Friends and colleagues generally cite Kenney as a melancholy, distant figure in the final months of her life, but her suicide at age 28 on April 13, 1960, still raises myriad questions: by most accounts, she spent her last hours writing each of her parents long, heartbreaking letters at the desk in her Greenwich Village flat before consuming a lethal overdose of alcohol and Seconal, but her motivations are unknown. A 1992 GQ magazine profile by Jonathan Schwartz suggests Kenney was despondent over the dissolution of her romance with Beat Generation guru Milton Klonsky, but a subsequent investigation by fan and journalist Bill Reed casts serious doubt on this theory. While a virtual footnote in her native U.S., Kenney boasts an ever-growing cult following in Japan, where all six of her LPs have remained in print."
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1957, 1958
June Christy
albums: Gone for the Day and Fair and Warmer (studio) , Road Show (live)

Amazon

Notes: This 'twofer' CD includes the LP Gone for the Day on which Christy's studio recording of "A Most Unusual Day" (with arrangements and orchestra conducted by Pete Rugolo) first appeared. Scott Yanow at AllMusic.com notes this is "One of June Christy's two 1957 Capitol LPs [along with Fair and Warmer]. "Gone for the Day boasts Pete Rugolo arrangements and a 12-piece group of mostly West Coast all-stars. The backup players include trumpeter Don Fagerquist, trombonist Frank Rosolino, altoist Bud Shank, and Bob Cooper on tenor, but they are mostly restricted to short statements. Christy is in excellent form on such numbers as "Give Me the Simple Life" and "It's a Most Unusual Day."

Christy, also made a live performance recording of "It's a Most Unusual Day" with Stan Kenton and His Orchestra that appears on the CD Road Show recorded live in concert at Purdue University (1958), released January 1, 1959.

Amazon

Notes: "Kenton [is] in full concert mode. With June Christy and the [Four] Freshmen this is a nostalgic masterpiece. Kenton did other concert albums, notably one from Butler University, but this is THE one!" (Amazon reviewer, pilakia)

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1960
Pete Rugolo (and ensemble)
albums: Ten Trombones Like Two Pianos
(and Percussion at Work)

Amazon

Notes: The Ten Trombones album was originally released in 1960 as a vinyl LP. it was re-released in 2013 as part of a 'twofer' CD with Rugolo's anthology Percussion at Work.

"The vinyl LP originally came "in a gatefold jacket. There's an incredible amount of information about the music, artist and the recording itself. Selections include "Marie," "Like Love," "Moonglow and Theme from Picnic," "Ten Trombones", "Angel Eyes," "Let There Be Love," "Intermission Riff," "Willow Weep for Me," "It's a Most Unusual Day," "Love Is Just around the Corner," "Basin Street East," "Love Is Here to Stay." --from Amazon Editorial Review

Personnel: Pete Rugolo (arranger, conductor); Milt Bernhart, Harry Betts, Bob Fitzpatrick, Ver Frilery, Herbie Harper, Francis Joe Howard, Dick Noel, Bob Pring, Frank Rosolino (trombones); Ken Shroyer, Russell Brown, George Roberts (Bass Trombones); Russ Freeman, John Williams, Claude Williamson (piano); Red Mitchell (Bass); Shelly Manne, (drums).

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1989
Michael Feinstein
album: The MGM Album

Amazon

Notes: In this version with full orchestra accompaniment, Feinstein sings the verse but inserts it after the first refrain instead in the usual position at the beginning of the song. The album title seems to mean, more or less, songs used in M-G-M movies but not specifically written for those movies; however, in the case of "It's a Most Unusual Day," the song was written specifically for for MGM film A Date with Judy.
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1997
Wesla Whitfield
album: Teach Me Tonight

Amazon

Notes: Whitfield includes the seldom heard verse in its usual place at the beginning of the song. (See Lyrics Lounge (this page).
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2001
Jody Sandhaus
album: I Think of You

Amazon

Notes: A jazz inflected version that begins with the verse with piano accompaniment only before turning to a small group straight ahead jazz backing for the refrain. Very appealing.

"Jody Sandhaus' first album, Winter Moon, held out hope for a bright future for this singer with the passionate delivery, and this current undertaking does nothing to dim this prospect." Read full album review at AllMusic.com.
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2007
Norm Kubrin
album: Shootin' High, The Songs of Jimmy McHugh

Amazon

Notes: Kubrin is backed by high profile, hip group of jazz inflected musicians (the late Ray Kennedy on piano who also did the arrangements; Tom Kennedy, bass; Joe Cohn, guitar; Tony Tedesco, drums; Chuck Redd, vibes; Harry Allen, tenor sax; and Glen Drews, trumpet.) The selections are some of McHugh's best tunes, mostly American Songbook classics.
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