Blue Skies

Blue Skies is a popular song, written by Irving Berlin in 1926. The song was composed in 1926 as a last minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical, Betsy. Although the show only ran for 39 performances, "Blue Skies" was an instant success, with audiences on opening night demanding 24 encores of the piece from star, Belle Baker. During the final repetition, Ms. Baker forgot her lyrics, prompting Berlin to sing them from his seat in the front row.

Author(s): Publisher: Code: UL403

Main Category: Jazz Main Instrument: Ukulele

2026-08-19

If you're a registered site member and have the correct permissions you can view ALL the pages of this PDF or Samples pages at a larger size using the LearningUkulele.com Online PDF Viewer.

Download PDF

This Download IS part of your Gold Site Access and a FREE download. Thanks for supporting the site. – Curt

Each PDF file is a professionally prepared, formatted, high resolution file that prints out great. You'll need a PDF Reader or application capable of viewing PDF files to view the PDF.

NOTE: Download the current PDF file for the latest, complete, and most up-to-date version. As well as additional information not presented on-line.

Blue Skies

The song was composed in 1926 as a last minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical, Betsy. Although the show only ran for 39 performances, "Blue Skies" was an instant success, with audiences on opening night demanding 24 encores of the piece from star, Belle Baker. During the final repetition, Ms. Baker forgot her lyrics, prompting Berlin to sing them from his seat in the front row.

More Blue Skies content below, continue exploring...

In 1927, the music was published and Ben Selvin's recorded version was a #1 hit. That same year, it became one of the first songs to be featured in a talkie, when Al Jolson performed it in The Jazz Singer. 1946 was also a notable year for the song, with a Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire film taking its title, and two recorded versions by Count Basie and Benny Goodman reaching #8 and #9 on the pop charts, respectively. Crossing genres, Willie Nelson's recording of "Blue Skies" was a #1 country music hit in 1978. The fact that it became a No. 1 country song (especially by a Texan artist) was not entirely surprising as it clearly was a major western swing and country standard as a 1939 version by Moon Mullican and a 1962 Jim Reeves interpretation have shown.

@include("partials/eStore/music/how_about_more_uke/available_here", [ 'song' => "Blue Skies" ])

Blue Skies is one of many popular songs whose lyrics use a "Bluebird of happiness" as a symbol of cheer: Bluebirds singing a song -- Nothing but bluebirds all day long.