It’s Been A Long, Long Time, Jazz Song By Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn

captain america jazz song

One of the most emotional scenes in the latest Avengers movie, Avengers Endgame, saw a time-travelling Captain America travel back to his past to spend the rest of his life with his long-lost love Peggy Carter. The scene featured the pair dancing to It’s Been A Long, Long Time, a jazz song by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn. The song was first used in the MCU in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when Nick Fury played it to Steve Rogers while he was hiding out after being attacked by HYDRA agents, and it was also used at the end of Avengers Endgame when Peggy and Cap were reunited in her home in 1970 after his defeat of Thanos.

The music was composed by American jazz trumpeter Harry James, who worked on the song along with composer and arranger Kitty Kallen. The recording was a number one hit on the Billboard chart in November 1945, beating out a Bing Crosby and Les Paul version of the song to become the biggest hit of the month.

It was the last of James’ nine US number ones before he retired from the music business in 1955. The song’s lyrics are written from the perspective of someone welcoming home their spouse or lover at the end of World War II.

The song has since been covered by many artists, most notably the Marvel TV series Hawkeye, in which it was played during a scene depicting the reunited heroes from their World War II days. The episode was directed by Joss Whedon and starred Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld.