Out of Nowhere (Johnny Green song)

The cover of Johnny Green and His Orchestra's recording of "Out of Nowhere"

"Out of Nowhere" is a popular song composed by Johnny Green with lyrics by Edward Heyman and published by Famous Music. It was popularized by Bing Crosby, and was the first recording under his Brunswick Records contract. He recorded it on March 30, 1931[1] and it became his first number one hit as a solo artist.[2] Crosby also sang it in the film Confessions of a Co-Ed (1931) and in his short film I Surrender Dear (1931). He recorded it again in 1954 for his album Bing: A Musical Autobiography.

Other 1931 recordings were by Leo Reisman and his Orchestra (vocal by Frank Munn) which reached No. 6 in the charts of the day,[3] Smith Ballew and his Orchestra,[4] Ruth Etting,[4] and Roy Fox and His band (vocal: Al Bowlly) recorded July 31, 1931. (Al Bowlly Discography).

The song's harmonic progression has been used in several later songs, such as Alexander Courage's "Theme from Star Trek", Tadd Dameron's "Casbah", Fats Navarro's "Nostalgia", Gigi Gryce's "Sans Souci", and Lennie Tristano's "317 East 32nd Street."[2]

It has become a jazz standard, with dozens of instrumental and vocal versions by various artists.

  1. ^ "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Out of Nowhere at jazzstandards.com - retrieved on May 7, 2009
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954. Wisconsin, USA: Record Research Inc. p. 364. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
  4. ^ a b "The Online Discographical Project". 78discography.com. Retrieved June 26, 2017.