“Straighten Up and Fly Right” is a 1943 song written by Nat King Cole and Irving Mills and one of the first vocal hits for the King Cole Trio. It was the trio’s most popular single, reaching number one on the Harlem Hit Parade for ten nonconsecutive weeks. The single also peaked at number nine on the pop charts. “Straighten Up and Fly Right” also reached number one for six nonconsecutive weeks on the Most Played Jukebox Hillbilly Records.
The song was based on a Black folk tale that Cole’s father had used as a theme for one of his sermons. In the tale, a buzzard takes different animals for a joy ride. When he gets hungry, he throws them off on a dive and eats them for dinner. A monkey who had observed this trick goes for a ride; he wraps his tail around the buzzard’s neck and gives the buzzard a big surprise by nearly choking him to death.
The song’s harmonic structure is based on that of the George and Ira Gershwin’s song, “I Got Rhythm”.
The King Cole Trio recorded the song, along with “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You”, “If You Can’t Smile and Say Yes” and “Jumpin’ at Capitol”, for Capitol Records during a three-hour recording session at C.P. MacGregor Studios in Hollywood on November 30, 1943, with Johnny Mercer producing and John Palladino engineering the session.
Cole sold his share of the publishing rights to the song for $50 in the late 1930s, before it was ever recorded. He later sued to try to regain the rights, but was unsuccessful.
“Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” – Charlie Parker
“Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.” – Claude Debussy
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