NRR Project: “Straighten Up and Fly Right”
Written by Nat ‘King’ Cole and Irving Mills
Performed by the King Cole Trio
Recorded Nov. 30, 1943
2:26
It’s important to know that Nat ‘King’ Cole was originally renowned for his piano playing, not his smooth, warm, and effortless voice.
Beginning in the early ‘40s, Cole was renowned as a session pianist whose playing constituted part of the West Coast bebop movement. Cole’s clear, crisp attack is clear as a bell, melodic and measured.
At the same time, he became the “name” in the trio that also included the sensational Oscar Moore on guitar and Wesley Prince on bass. In 1940, they scored a hit with “Sweet Lorraine.” These three produced immensely pleasurable numbers, including “Route 66” and “Too Marvelous for Words.”
“Straighten Up and Fly Right” was Cole’s and Irving Mills composition, a little musical fable rendered in a catchy swing arrangement.
“A buzzard took a monkey for a ride in the air
The monkey thought that everything was on the square
The buzzard tried to throw the monkey off his back
But the monkey grabbed his neck and said, ‘Now listen, Jack’
Straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and stay right
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, don't you blow your top
Ain't no use in divin'
What's the use in jivin'?
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, don't you blow your top
The buzzard told the monkey
You are chokin' me
Release your hold and I'll set you free
The monkey looked the buzzard right
Dead in the eye and said
"Your story's so touching, but it sounds
Just like a lie"
Straighten up and stay right
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, don't you blow your top
Fly right!”
It was a big hit for the trio. Sadly, Cole had sold his rights to the song for $50 in the late 1930s. By 1950, Cole was on his own and working primarily as a singer, although he could get to a piano bench and accompany himself expertly.
His career was marred by racism. Throughout the 1950s, he consistently charted with his velvety ballads, but he suffered from racial prejudice as well. Ahead of his time, he hosted the first variety show featuring a Black man, albeit for one brief season. He was only 46 years old when he died in 1965 from lung cancer.
The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: “Mary Margaret McBride” – McBride interviews Zora Neale Hurston.
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