Gone With The Wind

Gone With The Wind is a 32-bar popular song in ABAC form composed by Allie Wrubel with lyrics by Herb Magidson, published in 1937. The song was inspired by the enormous cultural phenomenon surrounding Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning novel of the same name, with the original sheet music explicitly referencing the book and its anticipated film adaptation. The lyrics draw on imagery of burning flames and vanishing smoke to mirror the story's themes of destruction and loss. Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers recorded the original version with vocalist Larry Cotton in June 1937, and it reached number one on the charts. Alec Wilder, in his authoritative study American Popular Song, singled it out as Wrubel's finest achievement, expressing surprise that two writers he considered competent but generally unexceptional had produced something so sensitive and inventive. The tune faded from active repertoire during World War II but was revived through a notable 1946 all-star session featuring Johnny Hodges and Don Byas, after which it settled into the jazz canon. Written most commonly in Eb major, the harmony features characteristic II-V-I progressions with a bridge that invites tritone substitutions, making it a flexible vehicle for improvisation in both ballad and medium-swing settings. Stan Getz recorded a definitive ballad interpretation in 1950, while Ella Fitzgerald's 1960 live performance in Berlin and Wes Montgomery's version from The Incredible Jazz Guitar offered contrasting swing treatments that helped sustain the tune's presence across generations of players.