Body and Soul (1930 song)

"Body and Soul" originated in 1930 as a jazz standard and popular song, with Johnny Green composing the music and Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, and Frank Eyton writing the lyrics. It also served as the musical theme and background score for the film noir boxing drama Body and Soul.

Background

The song was created in New York City for British actress and singer Gertrude Lawrence, who debuted it to London audiences. First published in England, it reached the United States through Libby Holman’s performance in the 1930 Broadway revue Three’s a Crowd. In Britain, the orchestras of Jack Hylton and Ambrose both recorded the ballad within the same week in February 1930.

American popularity grew quickly, and by the end of that year, at least eleven US bands had made recordings. Louis Armstrong became the first jazz musician to record it in October 1930, though Paul Whiteman and Jack Fulton were responsible for its widespread popularity in the United States. The piece ranks among the most frequently recorded jazz standards, with multiple sets of lyrics existing.

Musical characteristics

Musically, "Body and Soul" is typically performed in D-flat major. A verse precedes the chorus but is rarely included, though recordings by Libby Holman and Billie Holiday feature it. The main tune follows a repeated eight-bar melody, an eight-bar bridge, and a final eight-bar return, forming the 32-bar AABA structure common to popular songs of the era. The "A" section uses conventional chord progressions, including ii–V–I turnarounds in D-flat, but the bridge shifts tonal center to D major—an unusual move described as "a bridge like no other." The song is considered challenging for improvisation, yet its unconventional chords offer "a large degree of improvisational freedom."

Coleman Hawkins

Among notable recordings, Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra cut a famous version on October 11, 1939, during their only session for Bluebird, an RCA Victor subsidiary. The take is unusual because Hawkins barely states the melody, instead playing two choruses of improvisation over the chord progression.

Jazz critic Leonard Feather noted that it became Hawkins’ biggest hit and made him a national name. The recording is seen as an early sign of bebop due to its harmonic inventiveness and break from swing clichés. In 2004, the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.

Frank Sinatra and Bobby Hackett

Frank Sinatra recorded "Body and Soul" on November 9, 1947, with trumpeter Bobby Hackett and a large orchestra arranged and conducted by Alex Stordahl for Columbia Records. The recording was not released until June 1949, appearing on Sinatra’s fourth Columbia album, Frankly Sentimental. Two alternate takes have since been issued.

One begins with Hackett’s trumpet; another, the longest, starts with the orchestra before Hackett’s trumpet. The takes differ in length: the first runs 3:15, the second (released on the 1960 LP Reflections) runs 3:20, and the third (on the 1967 album The Essential Frank Sinatra) runs 3:23. Sinatra expert Charles Granada wrote that Sinatra’s interpretation, alongside Billie Holiday’s, could be considered the ultimate vocal rendition, marking a point where Sinatra began channeling personal pain into his music, with a tonal quality foreshadowing the melancholic mood of his later Columbia period.

Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse recorded "Body and Soul" as a duet on March 23, 2011. It was Winehouse’s final recording before her death on July 23, 2011, at age 27. The single was released worldwide on September 14, 2011—what would have been her 28th birthday—on iTunes, MTV, and VH1. When the song reached number 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of October 1, 2011, Bennett, at 85, became the oldest living artist to chart on that list.

It also gave him the longest span of Hot 100 appearances, as his version of "Young and Warm and Wonderful" had appeared on the very first Hot 100 chart in August 1958. The recording won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 54th Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012. Proceeds benefit the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which supports young adults dealing with addiction.