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"Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night in the Week)", also known as "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)", is a popular song published in 1944 with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn.^[1]

Background

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Although it has been interpreted as referring to the separation of romantic partners during wartime,^[2]^[3] Cahn said that song actually refers to show business people who are not working on Saturday night.^[1]^[4]

1945 recordings

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Charted versions in 1945 were by Frank Sinatra^[5] (recorded November 14, 1944, released by Columbia Records as catalog number 36762),^[6] (No. 2 in the charts), Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra (vocal by Nancy Norman) (No. 6), Frankie Carle and His Orchestra (vocal by Phyllis Lynne) (No. 8), Woody Herman and His Orchestra (vocal by Frances Wayne) (No. 15) and by The King Sisters (No. 15).^[7]

Other versions

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Frank Sinatra - recorded November 29, 1957 for Capitol Records^[8]
Julie London - for her album For the Night People (1966)
Rosemary Clooney - for her album For the Duration (1991)
Barry Manilow - Manilow Sings Sinatra (1998)

Popular culture

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Sinatra also sang the song in the short The All-Star Bond Rally (1945).^[9]

References

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^ ^a ^b Cahn, Sammy (2002). Sammy Cahn's Rhyming Dictionary. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. xxxix. ISBN 9781575606224. I can go out Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but if you're in show business, Saturday night is the loneliest night in the week.
^ Holloway, Diane (2001). American History in Song: Lyrics from 1900 to 1945. Authors Choice Press. p. 428. ISBN 9780595193318. For the first few months of the year [1945], songs of loneliness still abounded until servicemen returned to the states.
^ Coley, Jack (September 2, 2009). "A cultural tour of the World War II era". Alexander City Outlook.
^ Lasser, Michael (2014). America's Songs II: Songs from the 1890s to the Post-War Years. Routledge. p. 199. ISBN 9781135094522. Cahn explained that Saturday night is for 'civilians,' but people in the business who aren't working stay home.
^ Gilliland, John. (197X). "Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #14 - All Tracks UNT Digital Library". University of North Texas. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^ "Columbia Records in the 36500 to 36999 series". 78discography.com.
^ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954. Wisconsin, USA: Record Research. p. 575. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
^ "Frank Sinatra Discography". jazzdiscography.com. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
^ "Internet Movie Database". imdb.com. Retrieved February 21, 2018.

v t e Woody Herman
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, unless stated otherwise.
Studio albums	How Hi the Fi (with Buck Clayton, 1954) Woody Herman–1963 (1962) My Buddy (with Rosemary Clooney, 1983)
Live albums	Encore Woody Herman–1963 (1963)
Singles	"Woodchopper's Ball" (1939) "Frenesi" (1941) "The Golden Wedding" (1941) "Blues in the Night" (1942) "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" (1944) "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" (1945) "Laura" (1945) "Caldonia" (1945) "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" (1946) "Surrender" (1946) "Sabre Dance" (1948) "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" (1955)

v t e Frank Sinatra singles
Discography
Columbia singles (1939–1940)	"It's Funny to Everyone but Me" "On a Little Street in Singapore" "Ciribiribin" "All or Nothing at All"
RCA Victor singles (1940–1942)	"Imagination" "I'll Be Seeing You" "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" "I'll Never Smile Again" "The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)" "Our Love Affair" "We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)" "Stardust" "Dolores" "It's Always You" "Oh! Look at Me Now" "Without a Song" "Let's Get Away from It All" "This Love of Mine" "Blue Skies" "Pale Moon (An Indian Love Song)" "Embraceable You" "Just as Though You Were Here" "Take Me" "In the Blue of Evening" "How About You?" "There Are Such Things"
Bluebird singles (1942–1943)	"Night and Day" "The Night We Called It a Day" "The Song Is You"
Columbia singles (1943–1953)	"Close to You" "You'll Never Know" "Sunday, Monday, or Always" "People Will Say We're in Love" "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" "A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening" "White Christmas" "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" "I Dream of You (More Than You Dream I Do)" "Ol' Man River" "Stormy Weather" "When Your Lover Has Gone" "Dream" "If I Loved You" "You'll Never Walk Alone" "Mighty Lak' a Rose" "Nancy (with the Laughing Face)" "America the Beautiful" "Day by Day" "Full Moon and Empty Arms" "Soliloquy (Part 1 & 2)" "Begin the Beguine" "Silent Night" "Adeste Fideles" "Jingle Bells" "Oh! What It Seemed to Be" "September Song" "Five Minutes More" "Sweet Lorraine" "Time after Time" "Mam'selle" "Almost Like Being in Love" "Tea for Two" "My Romance" "So Far" "A Fellow Needs a Girl" "But Beautiful" "I've Got a Crush on You" "All of Me" "Nature Boy" "Everybody Loves Somebody" "My Melancholy Baby" "Autumn in New York" "Why Can't You Behave?" "Some Enchanted Evening" "Bali Ha'i" "Let's Take an Old Fashioned Walk" "I Only Have Eyes for You" "The Old Master Painter" "Peachtree Street" "Goodnight, Irene" "Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You)" "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" "We Kiss in a Shadow" "April in Paris" "I Could Write a Book" "The Birth of the Blues"
Capitol singles (1953–1961)	"I'm Walking Behind You" "I've Got the World on a String" "My One and Only Love" "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)" "I Love You" "Young at Heart" "Don't Worry 'bout Me" "Three Coins in the Fountain" "The Gal That Got Away" "Someone to Watch Over Me" "Melody of Love" "Learnin' the Blues" "Love and Marriage" "(Love Is) The Tender Trap" "You're Sensational" "True Love" "Well, Did You Evah!" "Mind If I Make Love to You?" "Hey! Jealous Lover" "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" "All the Way" "Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)" "Witchcraft" "Mistletoe and Holly" "French Foreign Legion" "High Hopes" "Old MacDonald" "My Blue Heaven" "I'll Remember April" "I Love Paris"
Reprise singles (1961–1983)	"Granada" "I'll Be Seeing You" "The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)" "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" "Without a Song" "Stardust" "Come Rain or Come Shine" "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" "Me and My Shadow" "Call Me Irresponsible" "I Have Dreamed" "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" "My Kind of Town" "Softly, as I Leave You" "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" "The Little Drummer Boy" "It Was a Very Good Year" "Strangers in the Night" "Summer Wind" "You Make Me Feel So Young" "That's Life" "The September of My Years" "Somethin' Stupid" "The World We Knew (Over and Over)" "My Way of Life" "My Way" "Goin' Out of My Head" "Something" "Bein' Green" "Send In the Clowns" "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" "Theme from New York, New York" "Here's to the Band" "To Love a Child"
Qwest singles (1983–1984)	"Teach Me Tonight" "Mack the Knife" "It's All Right with Me" "Until the Real Thing Comes Along"
Compositions	"This Love of Mine" "Sheila" "Peachtree Street" "Take My Love" "I'm a Fool to Want You" "Mistletoe and Holly" "Mr. Success"
Category

v t e The King Sisters
Singles	"Tiger Rag" "Bless 'Em All" "The Hut-Sut Song" "I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You)" "It's Love-Love-Love" "Mairzy Doats" "The Trolley Song" "Candy" "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)"
Related articles	The King Family Show