song: Mandalay
artist: Four Jacks
Lyrics: English lyrics by Rudyard Kipling (1890), Danish translation by Kai Friis Møller (1942)
Music: Composition by Oley Speaks (1907) / Arrangement by Four Jacks (1961)

This recording has quite a history: The poem “Mandalay” was originally written in 1890 by the British writer and poet Rudyard Kipling (who is better known as the author of “The Jungle Book”, 1894). The poem was first set to music by composer Oley Speaks, who published his sheet music, titled “On the Road to Mandalay”, in 1907 (before the days of gramophone records). This composition has since been rearranged and recorded numerous times by English-speaking artists, e.g. by Frank Sinatra (1958) and by Bing Crosby (1960), who updated the original piano-based song to the big-band Swing genre popular in the 1950s–60s

The Danish lyrics were translated/adapted by writer and poet Kai Friis Møller who published them in a collection of poems in 1942. These lyrics were finally set to music by the Danish quartet Four Jacks in 1961, also with the music by Oley Speaks. This present sheet music is a transcription of the Four Jacks arrangement, which features a much simpler instrumentation (the drums and piano are not included here, though). This recording has since become a classic in Danish music history and is still played on Danish radio today, 60 years later. Enjoy!