Satin Doll
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Satin Doll" is a jazz standard written by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Written in 1953, the song has been recorded countless times, by such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Nancy Wilson.
Johnny Mercer, regarded as one of America's great songwriters (in the early 1940s, he was one of the co-founders of Capitol Records), was often asked to write lyrics to already popular songs; the lyrics to "Satin Doll" were written after the song was already a hit in its instrumental version. Ellington used "Satin Doll" as the closing number at most of his concerts.
It's possible that the music was not composed by Ellington but by pianist-arranger Billy Strayhorn, who worked closely with Ellington.
Popular 1950's group the Gaylords had a minor hit in 1958, with a version containing lyrics completely different than those written by Johnny Mercer.

