Let’s talk about one of the most stunning—and surprisingly difficult—jazz standards ever written: “Prelude to a Kiss.” If you’ve ever found yourself totally swept away by a moody, romantic jazz tune late at night, there’s a solid chance you were listening to this Duke Ellington masterpiece.
It dropped in August 1938, originally as a purely instrumental track featuring the legendary Johnny Hodges on alto sax. The song was basically a showcase for Ellington’s band, filled with lush harmonies and some serious mathematical sophistication. In fact, the melody is packed with descending chromatic scales and wild, wide interval leaps that became an Ellington trademark.
Because of all those crazy melodic jumps, “Prelude to a Kiss” is notoriously tough for vocalists to nail. But that didn’t stop lyricists Irving Gordon and Irving Mills from adding words to it just a few weeks after the instrumental version was recorded. They perfectly matched Ellington’s winding, two-bar musical phrases with lyrics that capture that intoxicating, dizzying feeling of falling in love. Mary McHugh was the first to sing it on a record, and since then, jazz heavyweights like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald have completely made the song their own.
Why It Still Hits Today
What makes this track so timeless is how it balances classical elegance with serious jazz swagger. The bridge builds up this incredible emotional tension before dropping you right back into that buttery, descending opening theme. It doesn’t just sound like a love song; it feels like the nervous, exciting energy right before a kiss.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
If you hear a song in blue
Like a flower crying for the dew
That was my heart serenading you
My prelude to a kiss
If you hear a song that grows
From my tender sentimental woes
That was my heart trying to compose
A prelude to a kiss
[Bridge]
Though it’s just a simple melody
With nothing fancy, nothing much
You could turn it to a symphony
A Schubert tune with a Gershwin touch
Verse 2]
Oh, how my love song gently cries
For the tenderness within your eyes
My love is a prelude that never dies
A prelude to a kiss
[Instrumental Break]
[Bridge]
Though it’s just a simple melody
With nothing fancy, nothing much
You could turn it to a symphony
A Schubert tune with a Gershwin touch
[Verse 2]
Oh, how my love song gently cries
For the tenderness within your eyes
My love is a prelude that never dies
A prelude to a kiss
WE&P by:EZorrillaMc&Co.
Official credits for “Prelude to a Kiss”:
- Composer: Duke Ellington
- Lyricists: Irving Gordon and Irving Mills
- Year Released: 1938
- First Instrumental Recording: Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra (featuring Johnny Hodges on alto sax, recorded August 1938)
- First Vocal Recording: Mary McHugh (recorded a few weeks after the instrumental version)
Direct sources.
- JazzStandards.com: Jazz Standards Songs and Instrumentals (Prelude to a Kiss) This source provides the historical timeline, noting the August 1938 instrumental recording featuring Johnny Hodges, the subsequent Mary McHugh vocal version recorded weeks later, and the addition of Gordon and Mills’ lyrics. URL:
[https://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-0/preludetoakiss.htm](https://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-0/preludetoakiss.htm) - All About Jazz: “Prelude to a Kiss” by Duke Ellington (Analysis by Tish Oney) This article breaks down the musical architecture of the song, specifically detailing the descending chromatic scales, the wide interval leaps (like dropping a sixth then leaping a ninth), and how the lyrics beautifully mirror Ellington’s two-bar sub-phrases to build emotional tension. URL:
[https://www.allaboutjazz.com/prelude-to-a-kiss-by-duke-ellington-duke-ellington-by-tish-oney](https://www.allaboutjazz.com/prelude-to-a-kiss-by-duke-ellington-duke-ellington-by-tish-oney)
