Today in Music (1956): Count Basie’s “April in Paris” charted

1/6/1956:

April in Paris Count Basie

Writer(s): Vernon Duke (music), E. Y. “Yip” Harburg (lyrics) (see lyrics here) Recorded: July 27, 1955 First Charted: January 6, 1956 Peak: 28 BB, 43 CB, 29 HR, 8 RB (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.5 video, 5.13 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Vernon Duke, born Vladimir Dukelsky in Russia on October 10, 1903, composed the music for “April in Paris.” He found his first success with musicals in London. While writing music for the Broadway revue Walk a Little Faster, in which the song eventually appeared, he and some of the cast went to a local bar. One of them said, “Oh to be in Paris now that April’s here!” and Duke thought “April in Paris” would be a great song title. TY2 Duke wrote the refrain for the song right there in the bar on an upright piano. TY2 The song featured lyrics by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, who became best known for writing “Over the Rainbow” for The Wizard of Oz. “April in Paris” “describes the atmosphere of Paris in the spring: chestnuts are in blossom, and holiday tables are decked with food under the trees. The vocalist sings that he never understood the charm of spring, never knew his heart could sing until ‘April in Paris.’” TY2 Evelyn Hoey performed the song in Walk a Little Faster, which opened on December 7, 1932. SS It was Duke’s “first classic.” SS Freddy Martin (#5) and Henry King (#14) both charted with the song in 1934. PM It was used again in the 1952 movie April in Paris, sung by Doris Day and Claude Dauphin. DJ Gogi Grant sung it in The Helen Morgan Story in 1957. Count Basie charted with an instrumental version of the song in 1956. The new arrangement by Wild Bill Davis “is both fabulously swinging and delightfully playful.” SS Basie also recorded a vocal version later in the year with Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams HT and even reprised it for the Mel Brooks’ comedy Blazing Saddles in 1974. It was an impressive feat “right in the face of the rock & roll revolution, nineteen years after he had burst onto the national scene with ‘One O’Clock Jump.’” SS He was born William Basie on August 21, 1904, in Red Bank, New Jersey. With his “simple but swinging piano style” PM he became “widely regarded as second only to Duke Ellington among all jazz band leaders.” PM He’d already accumulated more than two dozen chart hits, including his #1 version of “Open the Door, Richard!” in 1947, and signature hit, 1937’s “One O’Clock Jump.” Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 12. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 299-300. TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 185. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 46 and 472. HT Joel Whitburn (2009). Top Pop Singles 1955-2015. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 65. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 4/21/2025.