Instrumentally Yours: In the Mood

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If you notice, these songs have been from all over the place…and we’re only five days into the month! We haven’t hit the heavy rockers yet, but that’s for later in the month. Let’s take a trip back in time to the era of jumping swing and enjoy one of the classic songs of music. In the Mood - Glenn Miller Orchestra This is one of those songs that shows you the necessity for copyright laws. This song began life as “Tar Paper Stomp” in 1935. There were no regulations on copying things out of songs at the time if a song hadn’t been formally written down and submitted (it was worse for country singers, who couldn’t get their stuff copyrighted by ASCAP, period, because ASCAP wanted nothing to do with being associated with “hillbillies”). So “In the Mood” borrowed heavily from “Tar Paper Stomp;” however, to their credit, “Tar Paper Stomp” composer Wingy Manone was credited as a writer of “In the Mood.” Did you need to know any of that? Of course not. But you probably know that Glenn Miller was one of the greatest names of swing music in the 30s and 40s, and his legacy endures. You may also know that this song has been recorded a few million times…included a comical rendition by Ray Stevens under the pseudonym “The Henhouse Five Plus Two,” which amounted to “chickens” (Stevens) clucking the song. It’s fresh and exciting, which is what makes this so timeless. In the Mood Written by Wingy Manone, Andy Razaf, and Joe Garland Recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra Released as a single, 1939 Trombone time!