Pete Kelly's Blues

Written for Jack Webb’s 1955 Prohibition-era film of the same name, the title song was performed in the picture by Ella Fitzgerald, who plays a roadhouse singer. Ray Heindorf — a veteran Warner Bros. musical director and arranger — wrote the music, with Cahn supplying lyrics that lean into classic blues vernacular without tipping into pastiche.

The song became a minor standard, covered by June Christy, Bobby Darin, and others, and still surfaces occasionally on jazz albums as a period piece with genuine melodic staying power.