IN THE COOL, COOL, COOL OF THE EVENING
(Johnny Mercer / Hoagy Carmichael) (1951)

Recorded by: Fred Astaire; Bobby Belfry; Frankie Carle; 
Frank Chacksfield; Chanticleer; Rosemary Clooney; 
King Cole Trio; Ray Conniff; Bing Crosby; Jack Donahue; 
Rusty Draper; Rick Fay; Eddie Fisher; Five By Design; 
Crystal Gayle; Gordon Jenkins; Prudence Johnson; 
Frankie Laine; Barbara Lea; Henry Mancini; Dean Martin; 
Johnny Mercer; Bette Midler; Mavis Rivers; Frank Sinatra; 
Jo Stafford; The Starlite Orch.; Maxine Sullivan; 
Tracy & Nathan Thomas.


1ST Verse:

Sue wants a barbecue,
Sam wants to boil a ham,
Grace votes for Bouillabaisse stew.
Jake wants a weeny bake,
Steak and a layer cake,
He'll get a tummy ache too.
We'll rent a tent or tepee.
Let the town crier cry.
And if it's RSVP
This is what I'll reply:

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell 'em I'll be there
In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Better save a chair
When the party's gettin' a glow on
And singin' fills the air
In the shank of the night
When the doin's are right
You can tell 'em I'll be there

2ND Verse:

"Whee" said the bumblebee,"
"Let's have a jubilee"
"When?" said the prairie hen, "Soon?"
"Shore" said the dinosaur.
"Where?" said the grizzly bear,
"Under the light of the moon?"
"How `bout ya, brother jackass?"
Ev'ryone gaily cried,
"You comin' to the fracas?"
Over his specs he sighed:

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell 'em I'll be there
In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Slickum on my hair.
When the party's gettin' a glow on
And singin' fills the air
If I ain't in the clink,
And there's sumpin' to drink,
You can tell 'em I'll be there


(Contributed by Bill Huntley - November 2005
From the book "Our Huckleberry Friend")


******


As sung by Frank Sinatra :


In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell 'em I'll be there
In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Save your pappy a chair
When the party's gettin' a glow on
And singin' fills the air
In the shank of the night
When the doin's are right
You can tell 'em I'll be there

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell 'em we'll be there
If you need a pair of freeloaders
To fracture your affair
I may even give them Pagliacci
Now, stand back and give him air
Everyone can relax
And we'll have a few yacks
And you can tell 'em we'll be there

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell 'em we'll be there
In the cool, cool, cool of the eveni
Stickum in my hair
If perchance we look a bit peaked
Remember, c'est la guerre
If we're still on our feet
And there's somethin' to eat
You can tell 'em we'll be there

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell 'em I'll be there
In the cool, cool of the evening
Better save a chair
When the party's gettin' a glow on
And singin' fills the air
If there's gas in my hack
And my laundry is back
If you need a new face
Or a tenor or bass
You can tell 'em we'll be there


*****