Free Jazz Standard Sheet Music Downloads

"In Love in Vain" was composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Leo Robin for the 1946 film Centennial Summer — Kern's final film score. Among the songs from that film, this torch ballad about the anguish of unrequited love stands out for its emotional depth and harmonic sophistication.

The form is a 32-bar AABA, commonly played in Ab or F major. The A sections feature a graceful, characteristically Kern-like melodic line with expansive intervals and chromatic inflections. The harmony is built on ii-V-I foundations but enriched by modulatory ii-V chains and diminished passing chords that paint the lyric's theme of love in vain with musical poignancy. Typically performed as a ballad, the song demands expressive sensitivity from the performer and rewards careful attention to its harmonic nuances.

Carmen McRae's early recording (c. 1953, with Larry Elgart and his orchestra) is an important jazz vocal interpretation. Margaret Whiting delivered the original soundtrack vocal, and the song continues to be cherished as a hidden gem among jazz vocalists who appreciate Kern's late-period craftsmanship.