Taking a Chance on Love

This article is about the song. For the 2004 album by Jane Monheit, see Taking a Chance on Love (2004 Jane Monheit album). For the Hallmark Channel TV movie, see Taking a Chance on Love (film).

"Taking a Chance on Love" is a popular song by Vernon Duke with lyrics by John La Touche and Ted Fetter, published in 1940 (see 1940 in music), which has become a standard recorded by many artists.

It was introduced in the 1940 show Cabin in the Sky, a ground-breaking Broadway musical with an all black cast, where it was performed by Ethel Waters and Dooley Wilson. A feature film version Cabin in the Sky, starring Waters and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, was released in 1943 and featured the song. A Benny Goodman cover featuring Helen Forrest reached #1 in 1943.

Lyrics

The song contains eight verses. The opening lines are:

Here I go again,

I hear those trumpets blow again,

All aglow again, Taking a chance on love .

Here I slide again,

About to take that ride again,

I'm starry eyed again, Taking a chance on love.

Recorded versions

• Eddy Arnold
• Tony Bennett
• Ruby Braff
• Les Brown & his Orchestra
• Dave Brubeck
• Charlie Byrd
• Benny Carter
• June Christy - A Friendly Session, Vol. 2 (1999) with the Johnny Guarnieri Quintet
• Rosemary Clooney
• Alma Cogan
• Nat King Cole
• Ray Conniff
• Dorothy Dandridge
• Buddy DeFranco
• Marlene Dietrich - Dass Ich Dich Wiederseh'
• Kenny Drew
• Tommy Dorsey
• Anne Ducros
• Billy Eckstine
• Tal Farlow
• Michael Feinstein
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Helen Forrest
• The Four Lads
• Judy Garland
• Erroll Garner
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Benny Goodman
• Eydie Gorme
• Stephane Grappelli
• Buddy Greco
• Lance Hayward, recorded by the Bermudian pianist and released on Island Records (1958) on the very first album produced by Chris Blackwell
• Ted Heath
• Karl Otto Hoff, Kjell Johansens 15-piece orchestra Soloist: Kjell Johansen, trumpet. Arranger: Ragnar Robertsen (Recorded in Oslo on October 16, 1956 and released on the 78 rpm record HMV AL 6045)
• Salena Jones
• Sammy Kaye
• Stan Kenton
• Teddi King - Bidin' My Time (1956)
• Cleo Laine
• Frankie Laine
• Sara Lazarus
• Peggy Lee
• Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (in 1941; Brunswick 03187)
• Harpo Marx
• Johnny Mathis
• Susannah McCorkle
• Liza Minnelli
• Jane Monheit
• Gerry Mulligan
• Helen O'Connell
• Anita O'Day
• Renee Olstead
• The Osmonds
• Patti Page
• Nicholas Payton
• The Pied Pipers
• Rita Reys
• George Shearing
• Anne Shelton
• Dinah Shore
• Zoot Sims
• Frank Sinatra - Swing Easy! (1954)
• Jo Stafford
• Rod Stewart from Thanks for the Memory: The Great American Songbook, Volume IV (2005)
• Barbra Streisand from The Third Album (1963)
• Maxine Sullivan
• Mel Tormé
• Dionne Warwick
• Ethel Waters
• Carol Welsman
• Teddy Wilson
• Lester Young

External links

• Taking a Chance on Love at jazzstandards.com

Preceded by "I've Heard That Song Before" by Harry James

number-one single according to Billboard magazine June 12, 1943 - June 26, 1943

Succeeded by "Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer" by The Song Spinners