I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter

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"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" is a 1935 popular song with music by Fred E. Ahlert and lyrics by Joe Young. It has been recorded many times, and has become a standard of the Great American Songbook. The song was recorded by Frank Sinatra for his 1954 album Swing Easy, Bing Crosby for his 1957 LP Bing With A Beat and again by Sinatra in 1962 for his collaborative album with Count Basie, Sinatra-Basie. But the first big hit version was by Fats Waller in 1935,reaching further heights for the Boswell Sisters later that year and remaining charted into 1936; the song also had a major revival in 1957 in a recording by Billy Williams, which reached #3 on the Billboard magazine charts (a reported million-seller). Among other versions are recordings by Nat "King" Cole, Barry Manilow, Dean Martin, Scatman Crothers, and Bill Haley & His Comets, the latter who recorded a rock and roll version of the song in 1957.

It has the (allegedly) amusing and clever double meaning (kisses on the bottom); which partly explains its enduring popularity. It can't really be classed as a 'rock' song, since that genre did not exist at the time it was written. Rock was not a genre when Bill Haley covered it either - it might have been called 'Rock and Roll' in his day, possibly.

In Fats' great recording, his accompaniment it has some interesting blues-like play on the major/minor third against the sixth in the first few bars (did the original music include this?).