Cheek to Cheek (song)

"Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1936, for the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie Top Hat (1935). In the movie, Astaire sings the song to Rogers as they dance. The song was nominated for the Best Song Academy Award for 1936, which it lost to "Lullaby of Broadway". Astaire's recording of the song in 1935 spent five weeks at #1 on Your Hit Parade and was named the #1 song of 1935. Astaire's 1935 recording with the Leo Reisman Orchestra was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.

The song is probably most famous for its opening lines, "Heaven, I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak..." and quickly became a standard of the Great American Songbook. The lyrics were parodied by Berlin himself in his subsequent song He Ain't Got Rhythm, from the film On the Avenue (1937).

The song, as sung by Astaire, and separately by Ella Fitzgerald (see her 1956 album Ella and Louis), is featured in the movie The English Patient, and the version by Glenn Miller in Les Misérables. It is sung by Kenneth Branagh in Love's Labour's Lost. The original Astaire version is also featured in The Green Mile, Rain Man, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and The Purple Rose of Cairo, when Top Hat is being viewed. It can also be heard briefly in the movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps during the evening dinner scene.

On June 13, 2013, Paul McCartney sang a few bars of the song with host Stephen Colbert on a special one-hour Colbert Report.

Recorded versions

 * Larry Adler
 * Ambrose
 * Julie Andrews
 * Ray Anthony
 * Louis Armstrong
 * Desi Arnaz
 * Fred Astaire (1935 #1 hit)
 * Carmen McRae
 * Chet Atkins
 * Count Basie
 * Tony Bennett
 * Polly Bergen
 * Irving Berlin
 * Stanley Black
 * Pat Boone
 * Boswell Sisters 1930
 * Connee Boswell
 * Sam Browne
 * Charlie Byrd
 * Carmen Cavallaro
 * Eva Cassidy
 * June Christy
 * Rosemary Clooney
 * Alma Cogan


 * Ken Collyer
 * Ray Conniff
 * Bing Crosby
 * Vic Damone
 * Sammy Davis, Jr.
 * Doris Day
 * Buddy DeFranco
 * Tommy Dorsey
 * Eddie Duchin
 * Roy Eldridge
 * Ziggy Elman
 * Eddie Fisher
 * Ella Fitzgerald
 * Erroll Garner
 * Sara Gazarek
 * Carroll Gibbons
 * Benny Goodman
 * Stephane Grappelli
 * Buddy Greco
 * Roy Hamilton
 * Dick Haymes


 * Billie Holiday
 * Marilyn Horne
 * Harry James
 * Joni James
 * Al Jolson
 * Shirley Jones
 * Jane Krakowski and Tony Sotos (in Gray Matters)
 * Steve Lawrence
 * Peggy Lee
 * Guy Lombardo
 * Machito
 * Sanjaya Malakar
 * Los Manolos
 * Branford Marsalis
 * Miki Matsubara (1984)
 * Billy May
 * Susannah McCorkle
 * Robin McKelle
 * Yehudi Menuhin
 * Glenn Miller
 * Jane Monheit
 * Matt Monro
 * Sara Montiel


 * Red Norvo
 * Lisa Ono
 * Paper Lace
 * Pasadena Roof Orchestra
 * Joe Pass
 * Donald Peers
 * Oscar Peterson
 * Louis Prima
 * Max Raabe
 * Ray Reach
 * Rita Reys
 * Regine
 * Rosie Ribbons
 * Buddy Rich
 * Ginger Rogers
 * George Shearing
 * Alex Harvey
 * Frank Sinatra
 * Rod Stewart
 * Lew Stone
 * Taco
 * Mel Tormé
 * Sammy Davies Jr
 * Sarah Vaughan
 * Teddy Wilson