Smoke Gets in Your Eyes Smoke Gets in Your Eyes "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical "Roberta". The song was sung in the Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. Its first recorded performance was by Gertrude Niesen, who recorded the song with orchestral direction from Ray Sinatra, Frank Sinatra's second cousin, on October 13, 1933. Niesen's recording of the song was released by Victor, with the B-side, "Jealousy", featuring Isham Jones and his Orchestra. Paul Whiteman had the first hit recording of the song on the record charts in
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes saxophonist Zoot Sims. This was one of Belafonte's first recordings. Sims' performance was parodied on December 10, 1977 on "The Muppet Show" by the character he inspired. In 1950 Charlie Parker and Jo Stafford each released versions of the song on their respective albums, "Bird at St. Nick's" and "Autumn in New York". Dinah Washington released the song in 1956, on her album "Dinah!". Jeri Southern named her 1957 album "When Your Heart's On Fire" after a lyric from the song; the album features her version of the song. The same year as Nat King Cole's televised performance of the