Just One of Those Things (song)

"Just One of Those Things" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for the 1935 musical Jubilee.

Porter had written the score for Jubilee while on an extended sea cruise in the early part of 1935; however, in September 1935, Jubilee's librettist Moss Hart mentioned that the play's second act required an additional song. Porter had "Just One of Those Things" completed by the following morning. (He had previously used the title for a song intended for but not featured in the 1930 musical The New Yorkers. Apart from the title the two songs are distinct).^[1]

Porter's original lyric lacked an adjective for the line "a trip to the moon on gossamer wings": "gossamer" would be suggested by his friend, Ed Tauch.^[2]

A recording by Richard Himber reached the charts of the day in 1935 and Peggy Lee's stylized arrangement of the song was a No. 14 hit in the Billboard charts in 1952.^[3]

Other recordings

The song has become a standard of the American Songbook, with many other recordings having been made of it. Among artists who have recorded it are:

• Bing Crosby (recorded January 21, 1945),^[4]
• Doris Day (1951)^[5]
• Frank Sinatra on Swing Easy! (1954)^[6]
• Ella Fitzgerald on Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book (1956)^[7]
• Charlie Parker on The Cole Porter Songbook, recorded in 1954 (1956)^[8]
• Billie Holiday,^[9] on Songs for Distingué Lovers (1957)^[10]
• Nat King Cole recorded it as the title track of his 1957 album Just One Of Those Things.^[11]
• Lena Horne – on Stormy Weather (1957)^[12]
• Sarah Vaughan - on At Mister Kelly's (1957),^[13] and No Count Sarah (1958)^[14]
• Tony Bennett recorded a version on his 1957 album The Beat of My Heart.^[15]
• Anita O'Day - included on her album Anita O'Day Swings Cole Porter with Billy May (1959)^[16]
• Eydie Gormé included it on her album, Eydie Gorme on Stage (1959)^[17]
• Louis Armstrong & Oscar Peterson recorded for their 1959 album, Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson.^[18]
• Louis Prima on his The Wildest Comes Home (1962)^[19]
• Shirley Bassey for her EP In Other Words...(1963).^[20]
• Dave Brubeck, on Anything Goes! The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Cole Porter (1967)^[21]
• Maurice Chevalier included it in a Cole Porter medley on his farewell album, released on his 80th birthday (1968).^[22]
• Maxine Sullivan - Harlem Butterfly recorded in 1977 - (1980).^[23][24]
• Don Ellis on Out of Nowhere recorded in 1961 - (1988)^[25]
• The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl as a medley with Miss Otis Regrets for the album, Red Hot + Blue (1990)^[26]
• Dionne Warwick - Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter (1990)^[27]
• Mel Torme - The Great American Songbook: Live at Michael's Pub (1992)^[28]
• Susannah McCorkle - Easy to Love: The Songs of Cole Porter (1996)^[29]
• Johnny Hartman - Thank You for Everything (1998), rec. 1976^[30]
• Lionel Hampton on Just One of Those Things: Lionel Hampton Featuring Oscar Peterson on Verve, recorded in 1954 (released in 1999)^[31]
• Bryan Ferry on As Time Goes By (1999)^[32]
• John Barrowman on Swings Cole Porter (2004)^[33]
• Diana Krall on De-Lovely - Music From The Motion Picture (2004)^[34]
• Johnny Dorelli on Swingin', Pt. 2 (2007)^[35]
• Jamie Cullum on The Pursuit (2009)^[36]
• The Cherry Poppin' Daddies on Please Return the Evening (2014).^[37]
• Harry Connick Jr on True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter (2019).^[38]
• Tony Bennett recorded a version of the song for his 2021 collaborative album with Lady Gaga, Love for Sale.^[39]

Others who have recorded it are: Judy Garland, Johnny Hartman, Claude Bolling, Gil Evans, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Sidney Bechet, Nellie McKay, Erin McKeown,Patricia Barber, and Joan Morris.

Film appearances

• 1942 Panama Hattie - sung by Lena Horne.
• 1945 Just One of Those Things (film) - sung by Louise Tobin.^[40]
• 1946 Night and Day - sung by Ginny Simms and danced by Estelle Sloan with chorus.
• 1951 Lullaby of Broadway - performed by Doris Day.
• 1953 The Jazz Singer - performed by Peggy Lee.^[41]
• 1954 Young at Heart - sung by Frank Sinatra.^[42]
• 1960 Can-Can - performed by Maurice Chevalier.^[43]
• 1972 Sleuth^[44]
• 1975 At Long Last Love - performed by Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd and Duilio Del Prete.
• 2004 De-Lovely - sung by Diana Krall
• 2005 Rumor Has It - sung by Nellie McKay

In popular culture

• In 1958, Polly Bergen and guests Dick Van Dyke and Carol Haney performed "Just One of Those Things" on her short-lived NBC variety show, The Polly Bergen Show.^[45]
• Also on television, Diana Dors plays a nightclub singer who sings the song in the 1963 "Run for Doom" episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
• In 1983, it was used on NBC News Overnight's final broadcast on December 3, during the montage of the show's staff.
• In 2019, actress Helena Bonham Carter performed a rendition of the song in the third-season premiere of The Crown, while her character, Princess Margaret, is at a dinner party.
• Mariah Carey sings a few lines of the chorus, when describing a past love affair in the audiobook of her autobiography, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

See also

• List of 1930s jazz standards

References

This page was last edited on 23 June 2024, at 19:06