"Stardust" is a 1927 song written by Hoagy Carmichael, with lyrics added later by Mitchell Parish. It has been recorded as an instrumental or vocal song more than 1,500 times. Carmichael began enjoying jazz while studying at Indiana University. He created his own band and performed at events in Indiana and Ohio. After finishing college, Carmichael moved to Florida to work at a law firm. He left his job in the law field and returned to Indiana after learning that one of his songs had become popular. In 1927, after leaving a local university hangout, Carmichael started whistling a tune that he later developed into the song. While writing the song, he was inspired by the end of a romantic relationship. A classmate suggested the title "Stardust." That same year, Carmichael recorded an instrumental version of the song for Gennett Records.
In 1928, Carmichael left Indiana after Mills Music hired him as a composer. Mills Music then asked Mitchell Parish to add words to the song. Don Redman recorded the song in 1928, and by 1929, it was performed often at the Cotton Club. Isham Jones’s 1930 version of the song made it popular on the radio, and soon many musicians recorded "Stardust." Because of its popularity, in 1936, RCA Victor released a double-sided record featuring Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman on separate sides.
By 1940, the song was considered a standard and was later added to the Great American Songbook. That year, RCA Victor released two more recordings: one by Dorsey with Frank Sinatra singing, and one by Artie Shaw. Shaw’s recording sold one million copies, and Glenn Miller’s version was released the same year. Many artists, including Jo Stafford, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Billy Ward and his Dominoes, Ringo Starr, and Willie Nelson, have recorded "Stardust." The song appeared in movies such as My Favorite Year, Goodfellas, Sleepless in Seattle, and Casino. It was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995 and to the National Recording Registry in 2004.
Background
After entering Indiana University, Carmichael became interested in jazz music. He learned to play the piano with his mother, who performed at dances and movie theaters. In 1922, Carmichael met and made friends with Bix Beiderbecke. Carmichael often played music with Beiderbecke and got to know Beiderbecke's band, the Wolverines, who recorded Carmichael's original song "Riverboat Shuffle" in 1924. While still attending Indiana University, Carmichael formed a band called Carmichael's Collegians. The band performed in Indiana and Ohio. Between 1924 and 1925, the band appeared at 50 events. From 1925 to 1926, they played three to five nights a week at different events. Carmichael earned his bachelor's degree in 1925 and completed a Bachelor of Laws by 1926. In the same year, he worked as a law clerk in Miami but returned to Indiana after failing the Florida Bar examination. He passed the Indiana State Bar Association examination and worked for a law firm in Indiana. After Red Nichols' 1927 recording of Carmichael's original song "Washboard Blues" became successful, Carmichael decided to leave his law career to pursue a career in music.
Composition, first recording and addition of lyrics
Hoagy Carmichael wrote the song "Stardust" after ending his relationship with Kathryn Moore, who later married Art Baker, a trumpet player in Carmichael's Collegians. Carmichael shared several stories about how he was inspired to write the song on the university campus, but biographer Richard Sudhalter said these stories were "filled with stories that are not entirely true." One night after leaving the Book Nook, a popular university hangout, Carmichael whistled the beginning part of the song. He later said the melody "had something very strange and different." He worked on the details using different pianos, including one at the Book Nook. According to Ernie Pyle, Carmichael also worked on the song at the Carmichael family's home. When Pyle visited Carmichael, he asked him to play the song he was working on.
Pyle later said Carmichael asked him not to share details about the night he worked on the song with the family's piano, explaining, "the public likes to think these sweet songs are conceived under the moonlight, amid roses and soft breezes." Carmichael completed the song's details on a grand piano that was later discarded because of its poor condition. Baker and Violet Deckard Gardner, the singer in Carmichael's Collegians, remembered Carmichael humming the incomplete melody before 1926. A fellow student named Stuart Gorrell suggested the title "Star Dust," saying the tune sounded like "dust from stars drifting down through the summer sky."
After finalizing the song with his band, Carmichael booked a recording session with Gennett Records for October 31, 1927. Since he had not written sheet music for the song, he had to whistle the tune to the musicians. Carmichael played the piano, backed by Emil Seidel and his orchestra: Byron Smart (trumpet), Oscar Rossberg (trombone), Dick Kent and Gene Wood (alto saxophones), Maurice Bennett (tenor saxophone), Don Kimmel (guitar), Paul Brown (tuba), and Cliff Williams (drums). The session took place at Gennett's studio in Richmond, Indiana. The recording had a "medium fast and jazzy tempo" with no lyrics. Under the title "Stardust," it was released on the flipside of "One Night In Havana," assigned the number 6311, and credited to Hoagy Carmichael and His Pals.
Carmichael received a one-sided copy of "Stardust" from the studio before leaving Indiana in 1928 to work for Mills Music as a composer. The first manuscript for the song was submitted to the United States Copyright Office on January 5, 1928. The sheet music showed a melody in the key of D with no tempo or lyrics. Mills Music published a new version of the sheet music on January 19, 1929, as a piano composition. Don Redman, who worked for Mills Music, often played the song. After hearing Redman's version, a company arranger suggested playing the song at a "slower tempo and in a sentimental style." Irving Mills believed the song could be successful and decided to add lyrics.
Mills assigned lyricist Mitchell Parish to write the words for "Star Dust." Parish used a working title of "Then I Will Be Satisfied" but agreed to Redman's suggestion to rename the song "Stardust." Author Gene Fernett said Redman may have written the song's verse, but this claim could not be confirmed. Parish wrote the lyrics based on Carmichael's account of how he was inspired to compose the melody, while the lyricist created a story about lost love. The sheet music for the vocal version was published as "Star Dust" on May 10, 1929, in the key of C major.
The song's structure includes two introductory verses that are sometimes skipped. These are followed by a 32-bar chorus in ABAC form (instead of the traditional AABA form), which is often repeated. The chorus begins with an unusual harmonic progression that starts on the IV chord for two bars, then changes from major to minor, a technique also used in two other songs: "After You’ve Gone" (1918) and "I’ll See You In My Dreams" (1924). The melody moves between minor and major third intervals over a range of an octave and a third to "heighten drama."
Early recordings
In early 1929, Redman and his band The Chocolate Dandies released "Star Dust" on Okeh 8668. The recording used Carmichael's original key of D. The song quickly spread among Black musicians and jazz performers and was often played at the Cotton Club after being introduced in 1929. Duke Ellington performed the song at the club. The revue Hot Chocolates included a version by Louis Armstrong, which was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009.
While Carmichael worked for RCA Records as a leader of a jazz group, journalist Walter Winchell helped promote the song. His articles caught the attention of Isham Jones, who recorded a version with his orchestra as a slow, emotional song. Jones's recording happened on May 14, 1930, in Chicago, and Brunswick Records released it with catalog number 4856, titled "Stardust" again. The 1931 release became one of his most popular recordings. By 1931, "Stardust" was often played by orchestras on several US radio stations. The Calgary Herald wrote about Jones's version: "This beautiful melody seems destined to achieve the popularity which it so richly deserves and which is so long overdue." In August 1931, Bing Crosby released the song as "Star Dust" on Brunswick Records. That same year, Lee Sims also released "Stardust" on Brunswick 6132, a version the Sydney Morning Herald described as "a melody of a considerable intensity and with dramatic outbursts," with "realistic and very full" piano playing. Throughout the 1930s, record companies used both the one-word and two-word versions of the title, though Carmichael himself preferred the one-word title, as shown in his private letters and his 1946 book The Stardust Road.
Big band era and success
By 1935, radio announcers often credited the orchestra for playing a song, but Carmichael was named as the composer during introductions because the song was very popular. In the same year, saxophonist Coleman Hawkins recorded the song on March 2 in Paris. The record was released by Compagnie de Gramophone Française with the catalog number K-7527. The song was frequently performed by Art Tatum, Garnet Clark, and Fats Waller. Mills recorded the song with his different bands, including the Mills Blue Rhythm Band and Cab Calloway. In 1936, RCA Records made a record with two versions of the same song by different artists for the first time. Tommy Dorsey’s version was on one side, and Benny Goodman’s was on the other. Goodman used an arrangement by Fletcher Henderson, while Dorsey’s version included vocals by Edythe Wright. By 1937, Goodman said Carmichael’s tune was the most popular dance song in his performances. "Stardust" became a standard in big band music.
In 1940, RCA Victor executive Harry Myerson suggested releasing a two-sided recording of "Stardust" again. One side would feature Artie Shaw, and the other would include a new version by Dorsey. However, Shaw and Dorsey’s versions were released on separate records. Dorsey’s recording included vocals by Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers, while Shaw’s version became his most popular recording, selling a million copies. The Baltimore Sun wrote about both recordings in the same week. It called Dorsey’s version "emotional" and said the vocals by Sinatra and the Pied Pipers made the record good for listening at home. It praised Shaw’s "fluid clarinet above strings" and said his version was better for dancing. The Tampa Bay Times praised Dorsey’s "silky trombone" and Sinatra’s "slow vocal style," while it highlighted Shaw’s "intricate and dazzling clarinet wizardry" and the band’s "medium slow drag" style. The Times-Dispatch noted Shaw’s "intricate clarinet work" and said Dorsey’s version had "expert trombone work" and a "unique vocal" that it preferred over Shaw’s. Shaw’s recording was arranged by Lennie Hayton, and his orchestra included Billy Butterfield (trumpet), Jerry Jerome (tenor saxophone), Johnny Guarnieri (piano), Nick Fatool (drums), and Jack Jenney and Vernon Brown (trombones). Hayton’s arrangements included solos by Shaw, Butterfield, and Jenney, with a focus on the string section.
In 1940, Glenn Miller recorded his version of the song, which reached number 20 on Billboard’s National Best Selling Chart on October 26. DownBeat called the release "among the greatest bits of big band scoring in history," noting "beautifully arranged" sax and trumpet solos. However, The Boston Globe said the recording felt "completely dead and lifeless," blaming an imbalance in the number of musicians in the woodwind section compared to the rhythm section, which it described as "just competent musicians, no more."
In 1940, "Stardust" was affected by the ASCAP boycott. The disagreement between the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and radio broadcasters focused on rising song royalty prices. To respond, Broadcast Music, Inc. was created, and broadcasters stopped using an estimated two million ASCAP songs. After nine months of talks, a settlement was reached in October 1941, and major networks began playing the songs again. In 1941, Don Byas recorded a version of "Stardust" featuring Thelonious Monk, who was the house pianist at Minton’s Playhouse. Monk disliked the song, calling it "a sad song… if you know anything about music and harmony." He said the melody was "lousy" and that performers had to "do a lot of figuring how to play that in order to make it sound good." Another version by Miller was released on the V-Disc label in 1943. During the 1940s, "Stardust" was recorded by many artists as either an instrumental song or a romantic ballad by vocalists. From July 1947 to July 1948, "Stardust" ranked number one on Billboard’s Juke Box Standard Favorites poll, which used votes from juke box operators and radio listeners. Billboard said the song "proved to be a nationwide favorite, drawing top votes from all parts of the country."
Later recordings
In May 1953, jukebox operators reported that "Stardust" appeared three times on the Ten Pop Standard Records list. Shaw's version reached the top of the chart, while Dorsey's and Miller's versions were ranked at numbers seven and eight, respectively. Ella Fitzgerald recorded the song with Ellis Larkins playing the piano. The track was included on her 1954 album Songs in a Mellow Mood. Saturday Review noted that Fitzgerald performed "absorbing things with 'Stardust'," and the Chicago Tribune described the song as "completely in line with her magnificent singing." In 1954, when the copyright for 14 of Carmichael's songs, including "Stardust," needed renewal, Carmichael sued Mills Music to claim full or shared ownership of the compositions. His contract with Mills Music allowed him to receive royalties if his songs were published. He argued the company had taken an "unfair advantage" during the contract signing. The court denied his request, stating that Mills Music had paid large royalties. In 1955, Time magazine estimated Carmichael earned $250,000 in royalties for "Stardust" by that time, while the song earned $15,000 to $20,000 annually.
Producer Lee Gillette convinced Nat King Cole to include "Stardust" on his 1957 album Love Is the Thing. Cole initially refused to record it due to the many existing versions. Cole, who had performed the song since 1954, said, "I hate to sing 'Stardust,' it wears me out." After its release, the song received strong radio play. In 1957, Billy Ward and His Dominoes' version reached number 12 on Billboard's Top 100. That same year, Pat Boone's version on his album Star Dust reached number two on Billboard's Best Selling LPs chart. Saxophonist John Coltrane recorded a ballad version in 1958 as part of the Stardust Sessions, later released as the title track of his 1963 album Stardust. In 1962, Don Costa, the arranger for Frank Sinatra's Sinatra and Strings album, omitted the chorus of "Stardust" to focus on the song's verses. A review in The Rock Island Argus called Sinatra's version his "choicest" track on the album and praised his "entirely new approach" to the song.
Between 1958 and 1963, "Stardust" generated $50,000 annually in royalties for Mills Music. In 1964, Nino Tempo & April Stevens' version reached number 32 on Billboard's Top 100 and number 27 in Canada. Ringo Starr recorded the song with arrangements by Paul McCartney for his 1970 solo album Sentimental Journey. In 1978, Willie Nelson included "Stardust" as the title track of his album of pop standards. A review by Gannett News Service said Carmichael would have been proud of Nelson's performance. Nelson's album topped Billboard's Top Country Albums and reached the top of Billboard's Top LPs & Tapes. "Stardust" remained on Billboard charts for 540 weeks until 1988. National Public Radio noted that Nelson's version helped introduce Carmichael's work to people unfamiliar with his earlier music. Tiny Tim recorded the song with Brave Combo on his 1996 album Girl, which was his final recording. Rod Stewart included "Stardust" on his 2004 album Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III. In 2017, Bob Dylan recorded the song on his three-disc set Triplicate, which featured American standards. Rolling Stone reviewer Daniel Kreps described Dylan's version as having a "pleasing, country-tinged arrangement" that fell "somewhere between" Sinatra's and Nelson's interpretations.
Legacy
"Stardust" is part of the Great American Songbook. The song has been recorded more than 1,500 times and translated into 40 languages. The Encyclopædia Britannica describes it as "one of the most well-known and most recorded standards in all of American music." Carmichael's 1927 version was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995. Artie Shaw and His Orchestra's 1940 recording was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1988. National Public Radio included it on their NPR 100, a 1999 list of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century. For NPR, Susan Stamberg described it as "an American song of longing, dreams, and desires that still reaches across the decades to touch the spirit of anyone who hears it." In 2004, the Library of Congress added Carmichael's "Stardust" to the National Recording Registry, which includes music that is culturally, historically, or artistically important and reflects life in the United States. Carmichael's entry into the Songwriters Hall of Fame described the song as "most notably one of the greatest standards" from the Jazz Age. Carmichael's biographer, Richard Sudhalter, said the song's popularity came from "a mix of young Carmichael's background in the heartland, Bix's unique storytelling style, and the honest emotional expression found in much non-urban American pop music." Nelson's "Stardust" album was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015.
In 1938, Orson Welles's radio broadcast The War of the Worlds included a clip of "Stardust" played by the fictional Ramón Raquello Orchestra. The 1961 episode "The Hit Songwriters" of The Flintstones featured a version by Fred Flintstone. The song has appeared in films, including Stardust Memories (1980), Goodfellas (1990), Another Man's Poison (1951), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Casino (1995), The Aviator (2004), A Star Is Born (2018), and Captive State (2019). Carmichael's short 1942 recording is played at the start of the closing credits in Nightmare Alley (2021). On YouTube, that 1942 recording has been viewed nearly 230,000 times in one posting.
On December 1, 2000, Nelson's version of "Stardust" was used to wake up the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour during mission STS-108. The Caretaker used versions of the song in two of his albums: Marjorie Stedeford's version in We'll All Go Riding on a Rainbow and Charlie Spivak's version in Everywhere at the End of Time.