Mood Indigo

By Duke Ellington, Barney Bigard & Irving Mills
1930

The melody for this tune was actually learned by Bigard from his clarinet teacher, who called it, "Mexican Blues". It was composed for an October 1930 radio broadcast, on which it was announced as "Dreamy Blues". Further, in 1987, lyricist Mitchell Parish would come forward claiming to have actually written the words, the credit for which was allegedly taken by Mills due to his being the publisher's brother.

Lyrics:

You ain't been blue; no, no, no.
You ain't been blue,
Till you've had that mood indigo.
That feelin' goes stealin' down to my shoes,
While I sit and sigh, "Go 'long blues".

Always get that mood indigo,
Since my baby said goodbye.
In the evenin' when lights are low,
I'm so lonesome I could cry.

'Cause there's nobody who cares about me,
I'm just a soul who's
Bluer than blue can be.
When I get that mood indigo,
I could lay me down and die.

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Ella Fitzgerald
Nat King Cole
Nina Simone
Paul Robeson