Blues in the Night
Words & Music by Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen, 1941
Recorded by Rosemary Clooney, 1952 (#17)
Written for a film called Hot Nocturne, this song became so popular that the movie 
was re-titled Blues in the Night


A  
My mama done tol' me, when I was in kneepants,

                        A7
My mama done tol' me, "Son,

    D7
A woman'll sweet talk, and give ya the big eye,

     B7       E7             A  
But when the sweet talkin's done,

     E7                Am7                      E7
A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya t' sing 

      A    D9           A
The blues      in the night."


Refrain:

A7                         E7       Am7    D7
Now the rain's a-fallin', hear the train a-callin',

  A
"Whoo-ee." (My mama done tol' me,)

   D9                      Dm6                 E7
Hear that lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle,

  A
"Whoo-ee." (My mama done tol' me.)

   E7
A whoo-ee-duh whoo-ee,

     B7                  E7                A   D9        A
Ol' clickety clack's a-echoin' back  the blues   in the night.



            D9                  Dm6
The evening breeze'll start the trees to cryin'

E7       C7                B+       F#7-5    Am6   B7  E7       Dm6  E7
And the moon'll hide it's light when you get the blues in the night;

  D9                      Dm6     E7       C7               B+
Take my word, the mockingbird'll sing the saddest kind of song,

  F#m7-5            Am6           B7        E7       Dm6    Gm6      E7
He knows things are wrong, and he's right.



From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to Saint Joe,
Wherever the four winds blow;
I've been in some big towns and heard me some big talk,
But there is one thing I know:
A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya t' sing 
The blues in the night.

Refrain:

Coda:
 A                   A7     B7                E7
 Oooo  -  oooo   -  oooo, oooo  -  oooo   -  oooo,

     B7                    E7sus4         A
 My mama was right, there's blues in the night.