"On The Sunny Side Of The Street" Live Jazz Trio @ The Roux Cajon Eatery

Nick Longo-Drums
Preston Murphy-Bass
Michael Stark-Guitar
"On the Sunny Side of the Street" was composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields in 1930. Some authors say that Fats Waller was the original composer, but had sold the rights to the song. This is something that he did, and there’s a pretty impressive list of songs in that category that have gone on to become standards.Jimmy McHugh was a very successful composer in his own right. His songs have appeared in hundreds of films and have have been recorded by dozens of major artists. His first hit song was “When My Sugar Walks Down the Street” in 1924.Dorothy Fields was the first woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and she also has her own US postage stamp. In her seven years of collaboration with McHugh they wrote “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “Don’t Blame Me,” and “I’m in the Mood for Love.” She later won an Academy Award for “The Way You Look Tonight.”“On the Sunny Side of the Street” was recorded by Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Jo Stafford, Tommy Dorsey and so many others. Here is a wonderful version of the song by Louis Armstrong, and an equally satisfying rendition by Ella Fitzgerald with the Count Basie Orchestra.It’s a bright tune with some nice, unexpected features. The climb at the end of the first line with the leap to the tenth scale degree is exciting and infectious. It’s that kind of fresh interval that can make a song distinctive and memorable. The use of the circle of fifths, the chain of borrowed dominant chords in the bridge, is very effective, and the diminished chord has a nice way of pulling things together at the end. Here are the chords in the key of C:

G7Grab your Ccoat and get your E7hat,
Leave your Fworries on the G7doorstep.
AmJust direct your D7feet
To the Dm7sunny G7side of the Cstreet. G7

Can't you Chear that pitter E7pat
That Fhappy tune is G7your step.
AmLife can be so D7sweet
On the Dm7sunny G7side of the Cstreet.

I used to C7walk Gm7in the C7shade
With my Fblues C7on paFrade.
But D7I'm Am7not aD7fraid, this G7rover, Gdimcrossed G7over.

If C I never had a E7cent,
I'd be Frich as RockeG7feller.
AmGold dust at my D7feet
On the Dm7sunny G7side of the Cstreet.