# David Letterman's Johnny Carson Show - Song?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lettermans-johnny-carson-show-song/288197>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 3, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lettermans-johnny-carson-show-song/288197 "2005-02-03T17:16:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lettermans-johnny-carson-show-song/288197/1 "2005-02-03T17:16:23Z")

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On the Letterman show on Monday, what was the song Doc Severinson and Tommy Newsome and the orchestra played?

Also, what is a good album of this type of music?

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**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lettermans-johnny-carson-show-song/288197/2 "2005-02-03T17:30:43Z")

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I believe Doc Severenson mentioned that the song was what Bette Midler sand to Johnny on the final show, which, if correct, was “One For My Baby (One More For the Road)”, written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. Her version is available on her Greatest Hits CD. I also found recordings of the song by Frank Sinatra but none by Doc Severenson.

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**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lettermans-johnny-carson-show-song/288197/3 "2005-02-03T17:57:50Z")

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I don’t think it was “One For My Baby.” Doc drew a blank on the title when he was talking to Dave. I thought I heard it was “Rainy (something something)”? But I’m not sure. I think “rainy” was in the title. Doc said that it was Johnny’s favorite song. Sorry I can’t be more help.

As a side note, it was nice to hear the jokes Johnny sent to Dave. I didn’t hear that Dave was getting jokes from Johnny until after Carson died. I thought they were pretty good.

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**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lettermans-johnny-carson-show-song/288197/4 "2005-02-03T18:44:10Z")

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According to [the Wahoo Gazette](http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/exclusives/wahoo/archive/2005/01/archive31.shtml) (which is a daily diary of Late Show happenings written by a staff member), the song was “Here’s That Rainy Day.”

> [@](#):
>
> Along with Tommy Newsome and Ed Shaughnessy, and strings consisting of 20, Doc performed one of Johnny’s favorites, “Here’s That Rainy Day.”
> 
> To close out the show, Doc sits and chats a bit with Dave. Doc says he’s been through a lot this week, not sure whether to laugh, cry, or both. It probably explains why he forgot the name of “Here’s That Rainy Day” when explaining why he played the song.

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**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lettermans-johnny-carson-show-song/288197/5 "2005-02-03T19:33:33Z")

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Oops, sorry for the misinformation. I don’t know why I recall that Doc said it was the one that Bette sang. My apologies.