Victor Young, music · Ned Washington, lyrics · From the 1949 film My Foolish Heart
My Foolish Heart is a ballad by Victor Young, with words by Ned Washington, written for the 1949 film of the same name. Players like its singable melody and chord changes that invite reharmonizing, and many listeners first know it from Bill Evans's 1961 trio recording. You hear it as a piano trio feature, as a vocal ballad, and on many singers' and instrumentalists' ballad albums.
▶ Plays the whole path: 8 recordings in order. Use the player's next button to skip ahead.
The tune runs 32 bars in four eight-bar sections. The first A section stays in B♭, with a brief move toward D in bar 4 and a closing ii–V in bar 8. The B section visits E♭ and G minor, then returns to B♭. The second A section repeats the first except for its last two bars, which lead into G minor. The C section is a new closing section: it slides through E♭ minor and A♭7 into B♭, then runs a chain of ii–V and dominant chords that ends on a turnaround. Key bars: 9 in B♭ (bars 1 to 9), 2 in E♭ (bars 10 to 11), 3 in G minor (bars 12 to 14), 18 in B♭ (bars 15 to 32), which adds up to 32.
Read each line as four bars. Two chords in one bar share it equally. A key tag marks the first bar where a new key area arrives. The tune starts on a short pickup, then bar 1 begins on B♭maj7.
Source is one online lead sheet made for B♭ instruments, written in C. Its chords are moved down a whole step here to the usual concert key of B♭ (the transposition is mine, so check it against your own chart). Sources disagree on key: JazzStandards.com gives the original as C, the Real Book and Standard Repertoire use B♭, and Evans played it in A. The form (32 bars, A B A C) agrees with Standard Repertoire and JazzStandards.com. Reharmonizations differ a lot between players; this chart is one jazz version and may differ from the original sheet-music changes. The key regions in the form strip follow this chart.
The path starts with the song as a pop ballad, then moves through the Bill Evans trio, Evans with Tony Bennett and Keith Jarrett's long live reading. The last four steps add a trumpet quartet, a piano trio with orchestra, solo guitar and a tenor saxophone with a trio.
Step 1 · Learn the song
My Foolish Heart /
Step 2 · Hear the landmark trio ballad
Waltz for Debby
Step 3 · Hear the lyric with Evans at the piano
The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album
Step 4 · Hear a long live reading
My Foolish Heart: Live at Montreux
Step 5 · Hear a horn take the tune
Cool Cat
Step 6 · Hear the tune with an orchestra
Oscar Peterson & Nelson Riddle
Step 7 · Hear the tune as solo guitar
Electric Guitarist
Step 8 · Hear tenor sax and trio at length
“My Foolish Heart (feat. George Coleman, Idris Muhammad & James Cammack) [Live]”, A l'Olympia
Blue Moon
McRae sings the tune with a Jimmy Mundy orchestra in 1956, an early jazz-vocal reading after the 1950 pop hits.
Bass Hit!
A bass-led version from Ray Brown's first album as leader.
Jazz en Buenos Aires
A live set from 1980 that stayed unreleased until 2024, with Getz on tenor and Chuck Loeb on guitar.
The Way We Play
A recent version from trumpeter Marquis Hill with vocalist Christie Dashiell on his Concord debut.
Elegant People
A 2026 guitar reading by Biréli Lagrène with a small group, the newest version found.