Mood Indigo

This article describes the jazz song; for its use as an English title of a Boris Vian novel, see L'Écume des Jours.

Mood Indigo is a classic jazz song with words and music by Duke Ellington, Barney Bigard, and Irving Mills, and first commercially recorded January 9, 1933, by the Boswell Sisters with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra.

Duke composed this song in 15 minutes, while he was waiting for his mother to finish dinner (according to Amanda Wilde on KUOW.)

Lyrics

You ain't been blue, no, no, no.

You ain't been blue,

Till you've had that mood indigo.

That feelin' goes stealin' down to my shoes

While I sit and sigh, Go 'long blues.

Always get that mood indigo,

Since my baby said goodbye.

In the evenin' when lights are low,

I'm so lonesome I could cry.

Cause there's nobody who cares about me,

I'm just a soul who's bluer than blue can be.

When I get that mood indigo,

I could lay me down and die.