Blues in the Night

Words & Music by Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen, 1941
Recorded by Rosemary Clooney, 1952 (#17)
Written for a film called Hot Nocturne, this song became so popular that the movie was re-titled Blues in the Night


A  
My mama done tol' me, when I was in kneepants,

                        A7
My mama done tol' me, "Son,

    D7
A woman'll sweet talk, and give ya the big eye,

     B7       E7             A  
But when the sweet talkin's done,

     E7                Am7                      E7
A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya t' sing 

      A    D9           A
The blues      in the night."


Refrain:

A7                         E7       Am7    D7
Now the rain's a-fallin', hear the train a-callin',

  A
"Whoo-ee." (My mama done tol' me,)

   D9                      Dm6                 E7
Hear that lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle,

  A
"Whoo-ee." (My mama done tol' me.)

   E7
A whoo-ee-duh whoo-ee,

     B7                  E7                A   D9        A
Ol' clickety clack's a-echoin' back  the blues   in the night.



            D9                  Dm6
The evening breeze'll start the trees to cryin'

E7       C7                B+       F#7-5    Am6   B7  E7       Dm6  E7
And the moon'll hide it's light when you get the blues in the night;

  D9                      Dm6     E7       C7               B+
Take my word, the mockingbird'll sing the saddest kind of song,

  F#m7-5            Am6           B7        E7       Dm6    Gm6      E7
He knows things are wrong, and he's right.



From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to Saint Joe,
Wherever the four winds blow;
I've been in some big towns and heard me some big talk,
But there is one thing I know:
A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya t' sing 
The blues in the night.

Refrain:

Coda:
 A                   A7     B7                E7
 Oooo  -  oooo   -  oooo, oooo  -  oooo   -  oooo,

     B7                    E7sus4         A
 My mama was right, there's blues in the night.





 
The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.