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Mood Indigo
Words & Music by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills & Albany Bigard, 1931Recorded by Duke Ellington, 1931
D A+ D B7 C+ A+ D A7
You ain't been blue, no, no, no;
D A+ D B7 Fm7 A A9 A
You ain't been blue 'til you've had that mood in-di-go.
D DM7 D7 G6 G5 Gm
That feelin' goes stealin' down, down to my shoes
A+ D A+ D B7 C+ A+ D A7
While I sit and sigh, "So long, blues."
D D6 D E E6 E
I always get that mood in-di-go
A6 A A7 D Fdim A
Since my baby said, "Good-bye."
D D6 D E E6 E
And in the eve-nin', when lights are low,
Fm7 A
I'm so lonesome I could cry
D9 D DM7 G
'Cause there's nobody who cares about me;
Gm7 A+ A7+5 D
I'm just as blue as blue can be.
D6 E E6 E
I always get that mood in-di-go --
A6 A A7 D Fdim A
I could lay me down and die.
D A+ D B7 C+ A+ D A7
You ain't been blue, no, no, no;
D A+ D B7 Fm7 A A9 A
You ain't been blue 'til you've had that mood in-di-go.
D DM7 D7 G6 G5 Gm
That feelin' goes stealin' down, down to my shoes
A+ D A+ D B7 C+ A+ D A+ D
While I sit and sigh, "So long, blues."
According to at least one published source I have seen, Ellington may have co-opted credit for authorship of this song without actually contributing to it -- but given the tremendous popularity of the song, and how closely it is linked to him now, I vote that he be forgiven that transgression, if true...because he certainly did more than anybody to make it popular. Besides, however unethical such things may be, the fact of performers claiming authorship is incredibly common -- one need only realize that Elvis Presley is credited with co-authorship of so many of his hits (such as Love Me Tender, which a direct copy of Aura Lee) to understand that ethics in the music business seems to have little to do with fact.