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1963 single by Al Hirt

"Java"

Single by Al Hirt

from the album Honey in the Horn

B-side

"I Can't Get Started"

Released

November 1963

Recorded

1963

Studio

RCA Studio B, Nashville

Genre

Jazz

Length

1:55

Chet Atkins, Steve Sholes

Al Hirt singles chronology

"Java"
(1963)

"Cotton Candy"
(1964)

"Java" is an instrumental adaptation from a 1958 LP of piano compositions, The Wild Sounds of New Orleans, by Tousan, also known as New Orleans producer/songwriter Allen Toussaint. As was the case of the rest of Toussaint's LP, "Java" was composed in studio, primarily by Toussaint.

The first charting version, although it fell just short of the U.S. Top 40, was done by Floyd Cramer in 1962.

In 1963, trumpet player Al Hirt recorded the instrumental, and the track was the first single from his album Honey in the Horn. It was Hirt's first and biggest hit on the US pop charts, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 29, 1964 and spending four weeks at #1 on the easy listening chart in early 1964. The song was also featured on his greatest hits album, The Best of Al Hirt. Hirt released a live version on his 1965 album, Live at Carnegie Hall. He also recorded "Java" with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops for the RCA Red Seal album Pops Goes the Trumpet (Holiday for Brass) in 1964.

Hirt's recording won the Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra in 1964.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Floyd Cramer

Chart (1962–63)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	49
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	12
U.S. Cash Box Top 100	44

Al Hirt

Chart (1964)	Peak position
New Zealand (Listener)	7
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	4
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	1
U.S. Cash Box Top 100	4

Chart (1964)	Rank
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	12
U.S. Cash Box	16

Later uses

"Java" was used as the closing theme for Vision On, a British children's television programme, shown on BBC1 from 1964 to 1976, with Hirt's version featured until the early 70's, and Bert Kaempfert's rendering used thereafter.

The Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut performed her gold medal-winning floor routine at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich to a live piano version condensed to about 1 minute 9 seconds.

Henson Alternative and The Muppet Show featured "Java" at the beginning of episode 22, as accompaniment for a dance by two tube-like creatures. The bigger creature constantly stomped the smaller one flat and pushed it away, only for the smaller one to blast it off the stage as the piece ended. The Muppets performed "Java" on Al Hirt's Fanfare on July 31, 1965, and twice on The Ed Sullivan Show on November 27, 1966, and May 26, 1968.

An arrangement of "Java" was used in the Commodore 64 game Jumpin' Jack in 1983.

Cover versions

Hugo Winterhalter covered it on his Best of '64 album in 1964.

The Angels, in 1965 as the B-side to the song "Little Beatle Boy".

Bobby Hackett, on the 1965 album Trumpet's Greatest Hits.

The Beautiful South, in 1994, releasing it as a B-side to "One Last Love Song". Despite being a band with three vocalists, this was an instrumental version. They also performed the track live, often ending gigs with it, with the vocalists playing handheld percussion instruments or bouncing round the stage on giant space hoppers.

References

"Al (He's the King) Hirt - I Can't Get Started / Java". Discogs. November 1963.
Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 287.
Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 116.
"The Best of Al Hirt". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
"Cash Box Top 100 Singles, February 23, 1963". Tropicalglen.com.
"flavour of new zealand - search lever". Flavourofnz.co.nz.
"Cash Box Top 100 Singles, 1964". Tropicalglen.com.
"Top 100 Hits of 1964/Top 100 Songs of 1964". Musicoutfitters.com.
"Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1964". Tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
"Bobby Hackett - Trumpets' Greatest Hits". Discogs. 1965.

External links

Listen to "Java" on YouTube (Al Hirt)

v t e Al Hirt
Studio albums	Al Hirt in New Orleans Al Hirt's Jazz Band Ball Al Hirt and His New Orleans All Stars Blockbustin' Dixie! Swingin' Dixie at Dan's Pier 600 in New Orleans, Vol. 1 Swingin' Dixie, Vol. 3 Swingin' Dixie at Dan's Pier 600 in New Orleans, Vol. 2 He's the King and His Band The Greatest Horn in the World At the Mardi Gras Horn A-Plenty Trumpet and Strings Honey in the Horn Our Man in New Orleans Personalities Beauty and the Beard Sugar Lips Cotton Candy The Best of Al Hirt Live at Carnegie Hall That Honey Horn Sound They're Playing Our Song The Happy Trumpet The Horn Meets The Hornet Soul in the Horn Al Hirt Plays Bert Kaempfert Super Jazz 1 That's a Plenty Cotton Candy Jazzin' at the Pops Al's Place Raw Sugar, Sweet Sauce The Sound of Christmas Have a Merry Little Christmas Bourbon Street Parade Al Hirt & His Golden Trumpet Live on Bourbon Street Music to Watch Girls By
Singles	"Java" "Cotton Candy" "Sugar Lips" "Up Above My Head (I Hear Music in the Air)" "Feelin' Fruggy" "Fancy Pants" "Al's Place" "The Silence (Il Silenzio)" "Mame" "Trumpet Pickin'" "The Arena" "Green Hornet Theme" "Ludwig" "Music to Watch Girls By" "Puppet on a String" "Keep the Ball Rollin'" "We Can Fly/Up-Up and Away" "If"
B-sides	"I Can't Get Started" "Walkin'" "Poupee Brisee (Broken Doll)" "September Song" (A-Side) "Louisiana Lullaby" "Star Dust" "Mister Sandman" "Love Theme from The Sandpiper" "Seven Days To Tahiti" "Skillet Lickin'" "Yesterday" (A-Side) "Strawberry Jam" "His Girl" "Big Honey" "Manhattan Safari" "Penny Arcade" (A-Side)
Cover songs	"Alley Cat" "As Time Goes By" "Autumn Leaves" "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" "Baby, It's Cold Outside" "Begin the Beguine" "The Birth of the Blues" "Bye Bye Blues" "Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)" "Danny Boy" "Dear Old Southland" "Deep Purple" "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" "Down by the Riverside" "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" "Everybody Loves My Baby" "Fly Me to the Moon" "Fools Rush In" "Georgia on My Mind" "The Gypsy in My Soul" "Hello, Dolly!" "How Deep Is the Ocean?" "I Cried for You" "I Had the Craziest Dream" "I Love Paris" "I'll Be Seeing You" "I'll Get By" "I'll Never Smile Again" "I'm Moving On" "I've Heard That Song Before" "It's Been a Long, Long Time" "Jitterbug Waltz" "Just Because" "Last Date" "Laura" "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" "Love for Sale" "Love Makes the World Go 'Round" "Lover, Come Back to Me" "Margie" "Memories of You" "Muskrat Ramble" "Mutual Admiration Society" "My Baby Just Cares for Me" "New Orleans" "Ol' Man River" "One O'Clock Jump" "Out of Nowhere" "Panama" "Personality" "Poor Butterfly" "The Song from Moulin Rouge" "Stella by Starlight" "Stompin' at the Savoy" "Stranger in Paradise" "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" "Tenderly" "Tennessee Waltz" "That Old Feeling" "There! I've Said It Again" "Three Little Words" "Till There Was You" "True Love" "Undecided" "Walk Right In" "What's New?" "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" "When the Saints Go Marching In" "Willow Weep for Me" "Bill Bailey" "You Took Advantage of Me" "You'll Never Know"

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