Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)" is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn. It was introduced in 1929 by Ruby Keeler (as Dixie Dugan) in Florenz Ziegfeld's musical Show Girl.[1] The stage performances were accompanied by the Duke Ellington Orchestra.[2] On the show's opening night in Boston on June 25, 1929, Keeler's husband and popular singer Al Jolson suddenly stood up from his seat in the third row and sang a chorus of the song, much to the surprise of the audience and Gershwin himself.[3] Jolson recorded the song a few days later on July 6, 1929, and his rendition rose to number nine on the charts of the day.[4]
Other notable recordings
A popular jazz standard, the song has been recorded by:
1951 Starlift - sung and danced by Patrice Wymore (singing dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams)
In popular culture
The song is the namesake of Liza Minnelli, who performed the number at her 2008-9 concert Liza's at The Palace...!. It is also included in the 2015 Broadway musical An American in Paris, a joke on the mispronunciation of "Lise" - the female lead's name - by the American Jerry Mulligan.
Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappeli's licensed version appears as a song in Bioshock (2007). Players will hear it upon activating a jukebox in the level, and will hear its notable tune during the Farmer's Market section. Featured in-game, the song has been slowed down[21] whilst the original recording is played at slightly faster speed.[22]
^Jasen, David A. (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899–1999). Taylor & Francis. p. 121. ISBN0-415-93700-0.
