Free Jazz Standard Sheet Music Downloads

"Mean to Me" is a torch song published in 1929, with music by Fred E. Ahlert and lyrics by Roy Turk. Ahlert was a prolific Tin Pan Alley composer whose partnership with Turk produced numerous standards, including "I'll Get By" and "Walkin' My Baby Back Home."

The song follows a 32-bar AABA form, commonly played in the keys of F or Eb major. The A sections open with a plaintive, yearning melody that perfectly mirrors the lyric's theme of unrequited devotion. The bridge introduces a momentary shift toward a brighter tonal color before the return of the A section deepens the emotional impact. The chord progression contains chromatic passing chords that invite rich reharmonization possibilities, making it an especially rewarding vehicle for ballad interpretation. Its balance of melodic beauty and harmonic interest has kept it in the jazz repertoire for nearly a century.

The most celebrated recording is Billie Holiday's 1937 session with Teddy Wilson and Lester Young, which became one of her signature performances. Ella Fitzgerald's version on Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson (1962), recorded with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, won a Grammy Award and remains another essential interpretation.