Blues in the Night Lyrics

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
My mama done tol' me, when I was in kneepants,
My mama done tol' me, "Son,
A woman'll sweet talk, and give ya the big eye,
But when the sweet talkin's done,
A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya t' sing
The blues in the night."
Refrain:
Now the rain's a-fallin', hear the train a-callin',
"Whoo-ee." (My mama done tol' me,)
Hear that lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle,
"Whoo-ee." (My mama done tol' me.)
A whoo-ee-duh whoo-ee,
Ol' clickety clack's a-echoin' back the blues in the night.
The evening breeze'll start the trees to cryin'
And the moon'll hide it's light when you get the blues in the night;
Take my word, the mockingbird'll sing the saddest kind of song,
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:
Oooo - oooo - oooo, oooo - oooo - oooo,
My mama was right, there's blues in the night.