"The Very Thought of You" is a pop standard published in 1934

1934 in music

-Events:*March 12 - the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler given the world premiere of Paul Hindemith's symphony Mathis der Maler in Berlin.*May 28 - The Glyndebourne festival is inaugurated....

, with music and lyrics by Ray Noble

Ray Noble (musician)

Ray Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day...

. In addition to Noble's own hit recording of the song with his orchestra, featuring the vocals of Al Bowlly

Al Bowlly

Albert Allick Bowlly was a Southern-African singer, songwriter, composer and band leader, who became a popular Jazz crooner during the 1930s in the United Kingdom and later, in the United States of America. He recorded more than 1,000 records between 1927 and 1941...

, there was also a popular version recorded that same year by Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

. A decade later, the song was on the charts again in a version by Vaughn Monroe

Vaughn Monroe

Vaughn Wilton Monroe was an American baritone singer, trumpeter and big band leader and actor, most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording and radio.-Biography:...

. Doris Day

Doris Day

Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...

 sang the song in the 1950 movie Young Man with a Horn

Young Man with a Horn (film)

Young Man with a Horn is a 1950 drama film based on a biographical novel of the same name aboutBix Beiderbecke, the legendary jazz cornetist...

, a fictional tale partly based on the life of early jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke

Bix Beiderbecke

Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...

.

In 1961, "The Very Thought of You" was on the charts again, in a rhythm & blues version recorded by Little Willie John

Little Willie John

William Edward John was better known by his stage name Little Willie John. Many sources erroneously give his second name as Edgar...

, and three years later a rock and roll version by Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson

Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...

 reached #26 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

chart, lasting 7 weeks in the Hot 100 and crossing to #11 on Billboards Easy Listening

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks

The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

 chart.

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

 recorded this with Nelson Riddle

Nelson Riddle

Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...

 on the 1962 Verve

Verve Records

Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...

 release "Ella Swings Gently with Nelson

Ella Swings Gently with Nelson

Ella Swings Gently with Nelson is a 1962 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle....

", and then again, live, on her 1974 Pablo

Pablo Records

Pablo Records was a record label founded by Norman Granz in 1972, some ten years after he had sold his jazz labels to MGM Records....

 release Ella in London

Ella in London

Ella in London is a 1974 live album by Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by a quartet led by the pianist Tommy Flanagan.It is significant as Fitzgerald's only live album recorded in England, although a decade earlier she had recorded four songs for her 1964 album Hello, Dolly! in London...

, with Joe Pass

Joe Pass

Joe Pass was an Italian-American jazz guitarist of Sicilian descent. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century...

 on guitar.

There have also been numerous recordings of the song by jazz and pop standards artists, including Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, Nat "King" Cole, Carmen McRae

Carmen McRae

Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...

, Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

, and Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

; and a blues version on Albert King

Albert King

Albert King was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing.-Career:...

's Born Under a Bad Sign

Born Under a Bad Sign

-Album reissues:In 1998 Sundazed Records reissued the album with two additional bonus tracks, namely the rare mono single sides "Funk-Shun" and "Overall Junction", both written by Albert King...

album. More recently, Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....

 and Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

 recorded a duet version of the song for the former's album, Duets: An American Classic

Duets: An American Classic

-Personnel:* Tony Bennett, guest artists - vocals* Bill Charlap - piano* Pinchas Zukerman - violin* Lawrence Feldman - flute* Chris Botti - trumpet* Paul Langosch - double bass* Gray Sargent - guitar* Harold Jones - drums* Johnny Mandel - arranger, conductor...

. An instrumental version of the song is also among the background music in the film Casablanca

Casablanca (film)

Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...

 in the scene where Sascha kisses Rick Blaine on the cheek.

Sinatra's recording was on the 1962 LP Frank Sinatra sings Great Songs from Great Britain. The LP was recorded in London, England, arranged and conducted by the legendary Canadian composer/arranger Robert "Bob" Farnon. It is the only Sinatra studio session recorded outside the United States. Farnon told musician/journalist Harry Currie that "The Very Thought of You" was his favourite track on the LP. Currie himself has sung the song with both the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Victoria Symphony using Farnon's original Sinatra arrangement with Farnon's permission. Currie has also adapted the arrangement for vocal with large wind ensemble including piano.

One of the more recent releases of the song was by Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....

 in his successful "Great American Songbook" trilogy of albums. Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...

s Brent Spiner

Brent Spiner

Brent Jay Spiner is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the android Lieutenant Commander Data in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and four subsequent films. His portrayal of Data in Star Trek: First Contact and of Dr...

 recorded it on his 1991 album Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back

Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back

Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back is a 1991 album by Brent Spiner, best known for his role as Data in the American television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The title is a parodic reference both to Frank Sinatra's Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back and the Data character, whose eyes are golden yellow...

.

In Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom

Mitchell David "Mitch" Albom is an American best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, dramatist, radio and television broadcaster and musician. His books have sold over 30 million copies worldwide...

's best-selling book Tuesdays With Morrie

Tuesdays With Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie is a 1997 non-fiction novel by American writer Mitch Albom. The story was later adapted by Thomas Rickman into a TV movie of the same name directed by Mick Jackson, which aired on 5 December 1999 and starred Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria...

, Mitch's wife, Janine, sings this song to Morrie Schwartz

Morrie Schwartz

Morris "Morrie" S. Schwartz was a sociology professor at Brandeis University and an author. He was the subject of the best-selling book Tuesdays With Morrie, which was published in 1997 and later made into a movie....

.

Country singer David Slater

David Slater

David Slater is an American singer.-Career:He was the Male Vocalist champion on TV's Star Search in 1987. Slater then signed a recording contract with Capitol Records and launched a country music career. He released two critically acclaimed albums on Capitol in the late 1980s entitled and . Both...

 recorded the song on his 2005 album Nice And Easy.

Perry Como

Perry Como

Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...

 recorded it on his 1977, The Best of British

The Best of British

Best Of British was Perry Como's 24th RCA Victor 12" long-play album and the 22nd recorded in full "living" stereophonic sound. This album was released in the UK and Canada only...

album.

A female Canadian jazz singer, Emilie-Claire Barlow

Emilie-Claire Barlow

Emilie-Claire Barlow is a Canadian jazz singer and voice actress. Born to parents who were professional musicians, she was encouraged to sing and study several instruments including piano, cello, clarinet and violin. By age seven she had begun her career, singing television and radio...

, also recorded this song on her album, The Very Thought of You.

The SuperJazz Big Band of Birmingham, Alabama recorded the song on the CD, "UAB SuperJazz, Featuring Ellis Marsalis

UAB SuperJazz, Featuring Ellis Marsalis

UAB SuperJazz, Featuring Ellis Marsalis is a CD, recorded in 2001 by the SuperJazz Big Band of Birmingham, Alabama with guest piano soloist Ellis Marsalis...

."

"The Very Thought of You" performed by Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

 was played in the Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson

Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

 hit movie Forever Young

Forever Young (film)

Forever Young is a 1992 film, directed by Steve Miner, starring Mel Gibson, Elijah Wood and Jamie Lee Curtis. The screenplay was written by J.J. Abrams from an original story, "The Rest of Daniel". The original music score is composed by Jerry Goldsmith...

. The original Ray Noble version appears in the 1999 movie Bicentennial Man.

Richard Thompson references the song in "Al Bowlly's in Heaven," the closing track on his Daring Adventures

Daring Adventures

Daring Adventures is an album by Richard Thompson, released in 1986.After sales of his 1985 release Across a Crowded Room had not met expectations, Thompson was under pressure from his record label to deliver with his next album....

album. Norma Waterson

Norma Waterson

Norma Christine Waterson is an English musician, best known as one of the original members of The Watersons, a premier English traditional group. Other members of the group included her brother Mike Waterson and sister Lal Waterson, and in later incarnations of the group her husband Martin...

 performs a medley of the two songs on her album "The Very Thought of You".

In 2007, Chris Botti

Chris Botti

Christopher Stephen "Chris" Botti , is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2007, Botti was nominated for two Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album. On December 4, 2009, he was nominated for three more Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album and Best Long Form Music Video...

 covered the song from album "Italia

Italia (album)

Italia is an album by Chris Botti, released by Columbia Records on September 25, 2007. The album places focus on Botti's Italian roots through his cover versions of such songs as "Ave Maria", "Venice", "Estaté", and the title track "Italia", where he partnered with Andrea Bocelli, Botti also...

."

A cover of the song is the opening track on Nellie McKay

Nellie McKay

Nellie McKay , is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and former stand-up comedienne, noted for her critically acclaimed albums, and for her Broadway debut in The Threepenny Opera , for which she won a Theatre World Award...

's 2009 album Normal as Blueberry Pie - A Tribute to Doris Day

Normal as Blueberry Pie - A Tribute to Doris Day

Normal as Blueberry Pie – A Tribute to Doris Day is the fourth album from American singer-songwriter, Nellie McKay. Released by Verve Records, it is McKay's first cover album, composed of songs previously recorded by American singer and actress, Doris Day, minus the track "If I Ever Had a Dream",...

.

Lyrics

I don't need your photograph to keep by my bed

Your picture is always in my head

I don't need your portrait, dear, to bring you to mind

For sleeping or waking, dear, I find

The very thought of you and I forget to do

The little ordinary things that everyone ought to do

I'm living in a kind of daydream

I'm happy as a king

And foolish though it may seem

Why to me that's everything

The mere idea of you, the longing here for you

You'll never know how slow the moments go till I'm near to you

I see your face in every flower

Your eyes in stars above

It's just the thought of you

The very thought of you, my love

I see your face in every flower

Your eyes in stars above

It's just the thought of you

The very thought of you, my love