The Song of the Day for August 28, 2012 is Solitude.

About Solitude

Solitude was written in 1934 by Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington with lyrics by Eddie DeLange and Irving Mills.  Amazingly, Duke wrote the song in twenty minutes while waiting for the recording studio to open. Written first as instrumental, the lyrics were added later.

About This Version

I can’t stop listening to Tony Bennett’s 1962 Carnegie Hall Concert and this afternoon, at a perfect moment, Solitude started and I heard something in this performance of this song (that I had listened to many, many times) that was at once soulful, joyous, passionate, yearning and, well, perfect.

And, with thanks to Spotify, here is a recording of Solitude by the Duke Ellington Orchestra from the late 1930s, recorded for a radio program and compiled on Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club. This 2-CD set is available from Amazon.com.