On the Sunny Side of the Street is a song composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Some authors say that Fats Waller was the composer and that he sold the rights to the song. It was introduced in the Broadway musical Lew Leslie's International Revue starring Harry Richman and Gertrude Lawrence. Richman and Ted Lewis enjoyed hit records with the song in 1930.
On the Sunny Side of the Street became a jazz standard and was played by Louis Armstrong, the Nat King Cole Trio, Dave Brubeck, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, and Lester Young. Cover versions were recorded by Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra and Rod Stewart. Arguably the most popular arrangement was by Tommy Dorsey. The song was also featured in the 1991 film JFK and the Father of the Bride Part II. James Francis McHugh was an American composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he is credited with over 500 songs. McHugh began his career in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts, where he first published songs with local publishers. His early success was with the World War I song -Keep the Love-Light Burning in the Window Till the Boys Come Marching Home, and this also started a decade-long collaboration with lyricist Jack Caddigan. After struggling in a variety of jobs, including rehearsal pianist for the Boston Opera House and pianist-song plugger for Irving Berlin's publishing company, McHugh relocated to New York City. Eventually finding employment as a professional manager with the music publisher Jack Mills Inc., it was there that McHugh published his first real hit, Emaline, and briefly teamed up with Irving Mills as The Hotsy Totsy Boys to write the hit song Everything Is Hotsy Totsy Now. As impressive as the many collaborations he had with master lyricists, McHugh's best symbiotic musical relationship was with the school teacher and poet Dorothy Fields. Many hits written for the stage were soon to follow, including On the Sunny Side of the Street.
