“My Funny Valentine” is a song composed as a show-tune by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the 1937 Broadway show “Babes In Arms”. Mitzi Green introduced it for the first time in the musical, when her character, Susie Ward, sang to Ray Heatherton whose character was named Valentine “Val” White. In the song, she makes fun at some of Valentine's characteristics but ultimately affirms that he makes her smile and that she doesn't want him to change. The show opened on April 14, 1937, and ran for 289 performances. “My Funny Valentine” subsequently went onto the recording charts in 1945, when Hal McIntyre and His Orchestra (with singer Ruth Gaylor) reached number sixteen with their version of the song.
The song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 1300 albums over the years. “My Funny Valentine” has been a specialty number for many jazz greats, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, and Chet Baker.
Both Chet Baker and Miles Davis recorded “My Funny Valentine” on numerous occasions. Baker recorded the tune several times instrumentally, but it was his first vocal version that proved to be a landmark moment both for him and for the song. It was definetely his signature tune, and in every version he recorded Chet put his heart into every note. He wqs the true master of ballads and love songs, and My Funny Valentine is probably the Crème de la Crème of his romantic repertoire.
Davis, meanwhile, first recorded the song with his classic group of the 1950s (on “Cookin’ With the Miles Davis Quintet”), a performance that stands out as one of his most significant ballad performances. His 1964 Carnegie Hall performance is also noteworthy and helped to promote the new sound of his groundbreaking Second Great Quintet.
In 2015, the version of the song recorded by the Gerry Mulligan Quartet featuring Chet Baker was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for the song's "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy."
Here are some of the best versions of the song recorded throughout the years. Enjoy!
