Cry Me a River

This is my new arrangement and recording of the 50’s heart-breaker, Cry Me a River.

Click here to listen

It was written by Arthur Hamilton and first published in 1953, and made famous in the version by Julie London, 1955.

A jazzy blues ballad, “Cry Me a River” was originally written for Ella Fitzgerald to sing in the 1920s-set film, Pete Kelly’s Blues (released 1955), but the song was dropped. Fitzgerald first released a recording of the song on Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie! in 1961. The song’s first release was by actress/singer Julie London in 1955, backed by Barney Kessel on guitar and Ray Leatherwood on bass. A performance of the song by London in the 1956 film The Girl Can’t Help It helped to make it a bestseller.

This is a clip of the original Julie London hit as featured in the movie:

A somewhat different version was a staple of Joe Cocker on his Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour: