"Nightingale" is an original composition by Norah Jones, written for her debut album Come Away with Me, released in 2002 on Blue Note Records. It is one of a smaller number of songs on the album penned by Jones herself, alongside material contributed by Jesse Harris and Lee Alexander. The composition is a folk-jazz fusion piece that emphasizes intimacy and emotional subtlety, with a melody that sits in a comfortable vocal range and relies on warm, breathy phrasing and jazz-inflected techniques such as scooping into notes from below. The melodic lines are long and languid, demanding steady breath control and careful attention to tone rather than power or technical display. Harmonically, the piece employs gentle jazz voicings that support the song's introspective, nighttime atmosphere without drawing attention away from the vocal narrative. The original recording features a spare arrangement of piano, electric guitar played by Adam Levy, acoustic guitar by Jesse Harris, bass by Lee Alexander, and drums by Brian Blade, all serving the song's overarching mood of quiet reflection. "Nightingale" exemplifies the compositional sensibility that made Come Away with Me a crossover success, bridging jazz, folk, and contemporary singer-songwriter traditions. The song has attracted interest as a teaching and learning piece through multiple published sheet music arrangements, though it has not become a widely covered standard outside of its original album context.
