Who wrote How Deep Is the Ocean

Q: How Deep Is the Ocean author?

How Deep Is the Ocean? is a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1932.

In 1932 Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra with vocalist Jack Fulton were the first to make the pop charts with their recording of “How Deep Is the Ocean?”

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When was How Deep Is the Ocean written?
How Deep Is the Ocean author?
How Deep Is the Ocean Bing Crosby genre?
How Deep Is the Ocean How wide is the sky?

The song would spawn four hit recordings that year:

In 1945, with Peggy Lee’s growing appeal, Columbia released a 1941 recording:

Preceding the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929, life for Irving Berlin had been both productive and profitable. His life, however, was not without its troubles. In 1928 Berlin’s three-week-old son died, precipitating a bout of depression that would last for several years. Also, in the latter half of the 1920’s, Berlin had let up on what had been non-stop songwriting and began to doubt his viability as a composer. In Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin’s book Song by Song: The Lives and Work of 14 Great Lyric Writers, Berlin confesses, “I was scared ...I had had all the money I wanted for the rest of my life. Then all of a sudden I didn’t. I had taken it easy and gone soft, and wasn’t too certain I could get going again.”

Discouraging experiences with early Hollywood musicals gave Berlin further reason to despair, and while he continued to write songs he lacked the self-confidence to promote them.

In 1932 when the rest of the country was sunk in the depths of the Great Depression, Irving Berlin embarked on the second half of his career. Unwilling to accept Berlin’s professional demise, Max Winslow, a friend and employee, retrieved a song Berlin had filed and presented it to Rudy Vallee. “Say It Isn’t So” became a number one hit and one of only a few Berlin songs to be introduced on the radio. The song endures to this day as a jazz standard.

A reenergized Berlin then borrowed four lines of the chorus of his “To My Mammy” (1920), including the querying phrase, “How Deep Is the Ocean?” and created a new song whose lyrics are a succession of questions, “How deep is the ocean? (How high is the sky?)”

Berlin begins the refrain with

How much do I love you?
I’ll tell you no lie.

The second line, “I’ll tell you no lie,” is the only line that does not ask a question. Philip Furia, in The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America’s Great Lyricists depicts the lyrics as

Another slang formula--the Yiddish penchant for answering a question with another question...

More information on this tune...See the Reading and Research page for this tune for additional references.

- Jeremy Wilson

This section suggests definitive or otherwise significant recordings that will help jazz students get acquainted with “How Deep Is the Ocean? (How High Is the Sky?).” These recordings have been selected from the Jazz History and CD Recommendations sections.

Benny Goodman’s recording of “How Deep Is the Ocean” (The Complete Recordings 1941-1947) is an all-time classic and is historically significant for documenting the early days of his partnership with vocalist Peggy Lee. Charlie Parker’s ballad rendition from 1947 (Complete Dial Sessions Master Takes), meanwhile, helped legitimize the song as a standard relevant to modern jazz. Meanwhile, the common modern-day approach to the tune can be well heard in the wonderful trio rendition by pianist Tommy Flanagan (Sea Changes).

Noah Baerman - Jazz Pianist and Educator

The melody of “How Deep Is the Ocean?” requires little more than a one-octave range, making it an easy vehicle for vocalists. Its form can be diagrammed as A-B-A-B’ or A-B-A-C with no formal bridge. According to Allen Forte in his book The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era, 1924-1950: A Study in Musical Design, “What momentarily appears to be the bridge proves to be the second period of a double contrasting period.” -JW

Musical analysis of “How Deep Is the Ocean? (How High Is the Sky?)”

Original KeyOne flat, beginning in D minor and ending in the relative major with a false key change to A minor in mm 4-7.FormA - B - A - CTonalityPrimarily minor, gradually moving toward majorMovementArpeggios with lower neighbor tone embellishments and descending scale patterns.

Comments (assumed background)

A descending bass line in section “A” creates a harmonic progression that is at once unique and firmly grounded in tonal tradition. The only unusual sounding spot is the modulation in mm 4-5, in which Berlin goes directly from iiø7 to i in A minor (the V7 [E7] would clash with the melody at this point). The shift from Am up to C7 (as a V7 of F major) is also unusual but not jarring to the ear because of the close relationship between the tonalities involved. The “B” section uses what sounds suspiciously like a “blue note” – a flatted third in the key of F major played over the IV7 chord (Bb7). This note alternates with a lower F over a G bass, creating a V7(b9)/V7 in the key of F. However, there is a deceptive resolution to the V7(b9) in the key of D minor– that is, A7(b9). Again, this is not completely jarring to the ear. It works because of the diminished triad shared by C7 and A7(b9).K. J. McElrath - Musicologist for JazzStandards.com

Benny Goodman’s 1941 recording of this number no doubt brought it back to the attention of the jazz world. But it wasn’t until Coleman Hawkins’ 1943 version that the tune really caught on with jazz players.

Hawkins had probably played the number with Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra in the early 1930’s when it was initially popular. Using an approach similar to that of his 1939 hit “Body and Soul,” Hawkins is accompanied by a rhythm section of Ellis Larkins (piano), Fats Waller’s guitarist Al Casey, bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Shelly Manne, a group he would make several successful recordings with. The results are astounding; Hawkins outdoes his own version of “Body and Soul” and plays an unaccompanied coda that is brilliant.

Chris Tyle - Jazz Musician and Historian

Additional information for "How Deep Is the Ocean? (How High Is the Sky?)" may be found in:

Thomas S. Hischak
The Tin Pan Alley Song Encyclopedia
Greenwood Press
Hardcover: 552 pages

(1 paragraph including the following types of information: film productions, lyric analysis, music analysis and performers.)

When was How Deep Is the Ocean written?

“How Deep Is The Ocean?” was written in 1932. In 1932, when the rest of the country was sunk in the depths of the Great Depression, Irving Berlin embarked on the second half of his career.

How Deep Is the Ocean author?

"How Deep Is the Ocean?" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1932.

How Deep Is the Ocean Bing Crosby genre?

JazzHow Deep Is The Ocean (How High Is The Sky) / Genrenull

How Deep Is the Ocean How wide is the sky?

The ocean is only seven miles deep at the deepest point. The sky goes on forever. The unofficial border between aerodynamic flight and space flight is 62 miles. That can be considered the “edge of space,” though an argument can be made for space being much, much higher.