My Blue Heaven

"My Blue Heaven" is a popular song written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by George A. Whiting. The song was used in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. It has become part of various fake book collections. Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. In 1928, "My Blue Heaven" became a huge hit on Victor 20964-A for crooner Gene Austin, accompanied by the Victor Orchestra as directed by Nat Shilkret. It charted for 26 weeks, stayed at number one for 13, and sold over five million copies worldwide. Victor 20964-A was recorded on September 14, 1927 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. The recording was reissued as Victor 24573 and has been reissued on several commercially available CDs. Background The music for "My Blue Heaven" was written in 1924: "Donaldson wrote it one afternoon at the Friars Club in New York while waiting for his turn at the billiard table." The song was written while Donaldson was under contract to Irving Berlin, working for Berlin's publishing company, Irving Berlin Inc. George A. Whiting wrote lyrics adapted for Donaldson's music, and for a while, performed it in his vaudeville act with Sadie Burt, incorporating it in their show Songsayings, but no recording was ever made of Whiting and Burt performing the song; three years later, Tommy Lyman started singing it on the radio as his theme song.