Stories of Standards: Laura

KUVO’s First Take with Lando and Chavis’ weekly segment, “Stories of Standards” features the popular song LAURA this week.  There are 400 known jazz recordings of this song composed by David Raksin, and written by Johnny Mercer for the movie LAURA. Tune in to hear diverse presentations of this American standard. 

The 1944 movie Laura starring Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, and is heard throughout the movie. The lyrics were written by Johnny Mercer after the film had made the tune popular. According to Mercer, he had not yet seen the movie when he wrote the lyrics, but was aware that it was a romantic, somewhat haunting story.