The song of the day for Thursday, May 30, 2019, is “Revolvin’ Jones.”

About This Song

“Revolvin’ Jones” was written in 1940 by Will Robison, who met and collaborated with Jack Teagarden. Other well-known Robison songs include A Cottage For Sale and Don’t Smoke in Bed. In American Popular Song, Alec Wilder wrote:

Everybody loved him and many tried to help him, among them John Mercer. Mildred Bailey revered him and sang every song of his she could lay her hands on. I became aware of him in the late twenties when he recorded for Perfect Records. He did manage, during his almost euphoric life, to write a few successful songs … but generally his songs were known only to a few singers and lovers of the off-beat and the non-urban song. He had a special flair for gentleness and childhood, the lost and the religious. I suppose it’s not part of the growth of popular music, nor perhaps were any of Robison’s songs. But if they could so much bolster John Mercer’s conviction that there was more to write lyrics about than city life, that the world of memory, of remembered sayings and scenes, was as evocative as the whispered words of lovers, then he did make a contribution.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Revolvin’Jones” in 1962 for the album On The Glory Road. The album was due to be released in 1962, but the album was pulled from release at the last minute. Thankfully, the album was released as part of the Tony Bennett Complete Collection box set in 2011.

Revolvin’ Jones – 2011 Remaster

Revolvin’ Jones – 2011 Remaster, a song by Tony Bennett on Spotify

“Revolvin’ Jones,” as well as On the Glory Road, is available from iTunes.