"Misty" is a jazz standard written and originally recorded in 1954 by pianist Erroll Garner. He composed it as an instrumental in the traditional 32-bar format, and recorded it on July 27, 1954 for the album Contrasts. Lyrics were added later by Johnny Burke. It appeared on Johnny Mathis' 1959 album Heavenly, and this recording reached number 12 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart later that year. It has since become one of Mathis’ signature songs.

The song has been recorded by many other artists, including versions by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Ray Stevens who released a hit country version in 1975. Recordings by both Johnny Mathis and Erroll Garner have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Composition

Erroll Garner was inspired to write "Misty" on a flight from San Francisco to Chicago which passed through a thunderstorm: as the plane descended into O'Hare, Garner looked through the window to see a rainbow glowing through a haze and was moved to begin composing "Misty" on the spot, striking imaginary piano keys on his knees as he hummed the notes he imagined (causing his neighboring passenger to summon a flight attendant to assist the apparently ill Garner).

The lyrics were added later by Johnny Burke. Burke was initially reluctant to create lyrics for the tune but was persuaded to do so at the insistence of his pianist, Herb Mesick. It was said that Mesick played the tune every time Burke came into the room, until Burke said: "Alright, give me the damn music, and I'll do it." Burke wrote the lyrics in two to three hours. The recording was first released in October 1954 and credited to the Erroll Garner Trio, and it was included in Garner's album Contrasts released in December 1954. Garner later re-recorded the song with an orchestral arrangement by Mitch Miller for his album Other Voices in 1957. Instrumental versions were also recorded by Georgie Auld and Johnny Costa in 1955. Those who recorded the song after Sarah Vaughan included Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and most notably Johnny Mathis, who created the best-known version of it. and Johnny Mathis then insisted on recording "Misty" to fulfil his promise to record the song with the unexpected guest in attendance. Both Mathis' and Garner's recordings were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, Garner in 1991 and Mathis in 2002.

Charts

{| class="wikitable"

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!Chart (1959–1960)

!Peak<br />position

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Play Misty for Me

Clint Eastwood used the instrumental version in his 1971 directorial debut film Play Misty for Me, a low-budget film that proved to be a box-office success. Eastwood was said to have paid Garner a $25,000 fee for the right to use the tune in his film. This version peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom.

Charts

Weekly charts

{|class="wikitable sortable"

!Chart (1975)

!Peak<br />position

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|Australia (Kent Music Report)

| style="text-align:center;"|5

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|Euro Hit 50

| style="text-align:center;"|9

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|South African Singles Chart

| style="text-align:center;"|5

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|U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles

| style="text-align:center;"|3

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|U.S. Billboard Hot 100

| style="text-align:center;"|14

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|U.S. Billboard Easy Listening

| style="text-align:center;"|8

|}

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable"

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!align="left"|Chart (1975)

! style="text-align:center;"|Rank

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|Australia (Kent Music Report)

| style="text-align:center;"|39

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|Canada RPM Top Singles

| style="text-align:center;"|135

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|New Zealand

| style="text-align:center;"|28

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|UK

| style="text-align:center;"|23

|-

|U.S. Billboard Hot 100

| style="text-align:center;"|91

|}

Other versions

  • Count Basie, Dance Along with Basie (1959)
  • Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1961 for use on his radio show, and it was included on the album With All My Heart (2012)
  • Lesley Gore recorded a version of "Misty" for her debut album, I'll Cry If I Want To (1963). The recording was used in a TikTok trend (in which a user would show themselves without a feature, such as glasses, and then show a different person with that feature) and reached number-one on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart in January 2024.
  • Aretha Franklin, Yeah!!! (1965)
  • Groove Holmes hit the Hot 100 with his version (1966)
  • Marty Robbins included a version on his album Marty After Midnight (1962)
  • Samara Joy recorded a version of Misty for her album Linger Awhile (2022)

References

  • "Misty" at jazzstandards.com
  • Misty chord/melody and solo studies for guitar