From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"That Old Black Magic" is a popular song. The music was written by Harold Arlen, with the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was published in 1942 and has become an often-recorded standard with versions by Glenn Miller, the singers Margaret Whiting, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and others.

The Glenn Miller recording was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 1523. It charted in 1943, spending 14 weeks on the Billboard magazine charts, peaking at position #1. ^[1]

The Margaret Whiting recording (with the Freddie Slack Orchestra, which got top billing on the label) was released by Capitol Records as catalog number 126. It charted in 1943, spending 1 week at #10 on the Billboard chart. ^[1]

The Frank Sinatra recording originally appeared on the album Frank Sinatra Remembers the Movies. This album seems to have disappeared, but the recording is on several "Greatest Hits" compilations of his Capitol recordings.

The Sammy Davis, Jr. recording was released by Decca Records as catalog number 29541. It charted in 1955 and spent 6 weeks on the Billboard charts, peaking at position #16. ^[1]

The duet recorded by Louis Prima and Keely Smith was released as a single in 1958 on the Capitol label. It reached a peak of eighteen on the Billboard Hot 100.

Bobby Rydell had his version released as a single on Cameo in 1961. It reached number twenty-one on the Hot 100.

The tune was featured as background music in the movie, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

It was featured several times more on Star Trek. Twice of which were on Star Trek: Voyager. It was sung by Seven of Nine during a simulation of World War II on the first part of the Episode The Killing Game during which her mind was altered by a hostile alien species to believe she was a French night club singer in occupied France. She was halfway through the first verse when the mind control was broken, at which point she no longer remembered what she had been doing or the words to the song and was forced to abruptly halt her performance. The second time it was performed by The Doctor and Harry Kim and his jazz band called 'Harry Kim and the Kimtones' in the episode Virtuoso. Harry Kim and his band began by performing the song instrumentally but the audience booed them because they wished to hear the Doctor perform. He jumped on stage and instructed the band to pick up the pace and began singing the song, saving the face of Harry and his band.

• Larry Adler
• Ray Anthony
• Harold Arlen
• Charlie Barnet
• Tony Bennett
• Earl Bostic
• Les Brown and his Band of Renown
• Dave Brubeck
• Cab Calloway
• Rosemary Clooney
• Holly Cole
• Ray Conniff
• Bing Crosby
• Billy Daniels
• James Darren
• Miles Davis
• Sammy Davis Jr.
• Doris Day
• Buddy DeFranco
• Jula de Palma
• Tommy Dorsey
• Ray Eberle and his Orchestra
• Billy Eckstine
• Percy Faith
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Judy Garland
• Erroll Garner
• Carroll Gibbons
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Stéphane Grappelli
• Lionel Hampton
• Dick Haymes
• Shirley Horn
• Spike Jones and his City Slickers
• Stan Kenton
• Peggy Lee
• Jerry Lewis (in the movie the Nutty Professor)
• Henry Mancini and his Orchestra
• The Marcels
• Tony Martin
• Johnny Mathis
• Carmen McRae
• Johnny Mercer
• Glenn Miller and his Orchestra
• Marilyn Monroe (in the movie Bus Stop)
• Marion Montgomery
• Oscar Peterson
• The Platters
• André Prévin
• Louis Prima
• Red Norvo Quintet
• Lita Roza
• Bobby Rydell
• David Seering (with Tommy Newsom and the L.A. Big-Band All Stars)
• Allan Sherman ("That Old Back Scratcher")
• Janis Siegel
• Frank Sinatra
• Keely Smith
• Kevin Spacey
• Toni Tennille
• Mel Tormé
• Caterina Valente
• Sarah Vaughan
• Margaret Whiting
• Widespread Panic (live)
• Robbie Williams
• Judy Garland

• Song lyrics
• That Old Black Magic: Chords/lyrics

1. ^ ^{a b c} Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top Pop Records 1940-1955. Record Research.