Let's Fall in Love is a bright, romantic standard composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Ted Koehler in 1933. The song was written for the Hollywood film of the same name, a comedy starring Ann Sothern and Edmund Lowe, and it appears in the opening credits sung by Art Jarrett and chorus. Arlen and Koehler traveled to California specifically to compose for the film, marking one of Arlen's early Hollywood assignments during a period when his reputation was rising through his Cotton Club successes such as Stormy Weather. The melody has a soaring, stepwise quality in its main sections, building emotional momentum that resolves naturally in the bridge. Harmonically, the tune relies on smooth voice leading and common chord progressions that give improvisers ample room for creative interpretation, which has made it a durable vehicle for jazz performance. Eddy Duchin and His Orchestra scored the initial hit version in 1933, and Arlen himself recorded the song with an orchestra conducted by Ray Sinatra that same year. The tune subsequently attracted a remarkable range of interpreters: Lee Wiley recorded it in 1940, Ella Fitzgerald in both 1959 and 1961, Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson paired on it in 1959, and Frank Sinatra included it on his 1961 album Ring-a-Ding-Ding! in a Johnny Mandel arrangement. The song has also crossed genre boundaries, with Peaches and Herb taking it to the R&B charts in 1966 and Diana Krall recording it in 1999. As part of Arlen's early body of work, it stands alongside his later masterpieces as evidence of his gift for crafting melodies that feel both sophisticated and immediately appealing.
