My Funny Valentine

My Funny Valentine is a ballad composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, introduced in the 1937 Broadway musical Babes in Arms. In the show, the song is sung literally to a character named Valentine "Val" La Mar, with the title's Valentine's Day reference appearing only in the closing line. The melody is distinctive for its minor-key character, unusual in Rodgers's output, featuring a chromatically descending bass line that creates an aching, bittersweet quality. Hart's lyrics layer ironic affection over the somber harmony, simultaneously teasing and declaring devotion. The composition moved from relative Broadway obscurity to become one of the most recorded songs in jazz history, with over a thousand known versions by more than six hundred artists. Chet Baker's vocal and trumpet rendering on Chet Baker Sings (1954) defined his artistic persona, while his earlier pianoless quartet recording with Gerry Mulligan (1953) was inducted into the National Recording Registry. Miles Davis recorded it multiple times, including on Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956) featuring Red Garland's piano solo, and on the '58 Sessions with Bill Evans and Paul Chambers. Emmet Cohen's Live From Emmet's Place Vol. 85 (2022) with Ben Wolfe on bass represents a more recent interpretation of this enduring standard.