One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)

Harold Arlen described the song as "another typical Arlen tapeworm" – a "tapeworm" being the trade slang for any song which went over the conventional 32-bar length. He called it "a wandering song. [Lyricist] Johnny [Mercer] took it and wrote it exactly the way it fell. Not only is it long – fifty-eight bars – but it also changes key. Johnny made it work." In the opinion of Arlen's biographer, Edward Jablonski, the song is "musically inevitable, rhythmically insistent, and in that mood of 'metropolitan melancholic beauty' that writer John O'Hara finds in all of Arlen's music." Sinatra recorded the song several times during his career: in 1947 with Columbia Records, in 1954 for the film soundtrack album Young at Heart, in 1958 for Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely, in 1962 for Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris, in 1966 for Sinatra at the Sands and finally, in 1993, for his Duets album. At a Johnny Carson-hosted Rat Pack concert at the Kiel Opera House in St. Louis in 1965, Sammy Davis Jr., backed by Quincy Jones conducting the Count Basie Orchestra, performed the song imitating the styles of successively Fred Astaire, Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, Vaughn Monroe, Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé, Frankie Laine, Louis Armstrong, an inebriated Dean Martin, and Jerry Lewis. Bennett, the last surviving of those imitated, continued to perform the song until his retirement in 2021 at the age of 95. During his final concert performances, at Radio City Music Hall, Bennett's performance of 'One For My Baby' was deemed a "highlight of his set" that "went from daring [due to the circumstances] to sublime". ==Recordings==

Many renditions of "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" have been performed. The following is a list of notable/well-known versions that have been recorded thus far: • Fred Astaire (1943) – 4:59 – Available on Somewhere Over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals and ''Hollywood's Best: The 40s'' • Johnny Mercer (1946) – 3:09 – Available on ''Capitol Collector's Series'' • Frank Sinatra (1947) – 3:07 – Available on The Essential Frank Sinatra: The Columbia Years • Cab Calloway (1951) – 3:20 – As a single, with Shot Gun Boogie; available on Hi-De-Ho and Other Movies (2004) • Frank Sinatra (1954) – 4:05 – Recorded for the soundtrack to the film Young at Heart; available on Frank Sinatra in Hollywood 1940–1964 • Harry James (1955) – 3:38 – Available on Jazz Session (Columbia CL 669) • Tony Bennett (1957) – 3:10 – A chart single, recorded live; a later studio version appeared in 1992 on Perfectly Frank • Billie Holiday (1957) – 5:42 – Available on Songs for Distingué Lovers • Frank Sinatra (1958) – 4:23 – Available on Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely; a piano-only rehearsal version is available on The Capitol Years box set • Fred Astaire (1959) – 3:02 – Available originally on Now [Kapp 1165 / 3049] • Julie London (1959) – 4:10 – Available on Your Number Please • Perry Como (1960) – 3:45 – Available on the long play record So Smooth • Ella Fitzgerald (1960) – 4:18 – Available on Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs from Let No Man Write My Epitaph • Etta James (1961) – 3:26 – Available on The Second Time Around • Wes Montgomery (1961) – 7:38 – Available on SO Much Guitar! • Chuck Berry (1965) – 2:44 – Available on ''Fresh Berry's'' • Marvin Gaye (1966) – 4:31 – Available on Moods of Marvin Gaye • Frank Sinatra (1966) – 4:40 – (live version) – Available on Sinatra at the Sands • Sammy Davis Jr. (1967) – 10:20 – On the live album ''That's All!'' • Bing Crosby (1968) – 3:30 – Available on ''Bing Crosby's Treasury - The Songs I Love (1968 version)'' • Lou Rawls (1968) – 4:25 – On ''You're Good To Me; Later available on Great Gentlemen of Song: Spotlight on Lou Rawls'' • Johnny Mercer (1974) – 3:58 – Available on My Huckleberry Friend • Willie Nelson (1979) – 2:36 – Available on Willie & Leon: One For the Road • Rosemary Clooney (1983) – 3:46 – On Rosemary Clooney Sings the Music of Harold Arlen • Bette Midler (1992) – 4:06 – Available on Experience The Divine: Greatest Hits (1993) • Kenny G featuring Frank Sinatra (1997) – 6:08 – On Kenny G – Greatest Hits; paired with an instrument intro of Sinatra's "All the Way" • Laura Fygi (1999) – 5:59 (live version) – On ''Laura Fygi's Tunes of Passion'' • Frank Stallone (1999) – 4:31 – Available on Soft And Low • Nana Mouskouri (2005) – 3:15 – Available on ''I'll Remember You'' ==In film and television==

• The song was by sung by Maggie Rogers on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on April 1, 2026. She snuck in the name "Stephen" to suit the occasion – "And, Stephen, I know you're getting ready to close" reminiscent of when the same song was by sung by Bette Midler to Johnny Carson on the penultimate night of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. • The song was by sung by Bette Midler to Johnny Carson on the penultimate night of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (May 21, 1992). It earned Midler that year's Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. The lyrics were adapted by Marc Shaiman to suit the occasion – such as "And, John, I know you're getting anxious to close". • Ida Lupino performs the song in the 1948 film-noir Road House. • Jane Russell performs the song in the 1952 film-noir Macao. ==References==