Where the winter is quite cold people seek fireside and sunlight to warm themselves. On the streets many would naturally prefer to saunter in the sun but some may still walk in the shade.
'On the sunny side of the street' is one of the widely known and performed song from the genre Jazz Standard. Written by American lyricist Dorothy Fields and composed by Jimmy McHugh in 1930 (some authors say that Fats Waller was the composer, but he sold the rights to the song), it was introduced in the Broadway musical 'Lew Leslie's International Revue' the same year.
Unlike Western classical music written for and played by symphony orchestras, Jazz bands comprise a much smaller number of musicians and singers but in the potential for making really good music Jazz is no less than orchestral music. Esperanza Emily Spalding, an American jazz musician, singer, songwriter, and composer and who won four Grammy Awards said at a performance of the song some years ago, “Europe gave us classical music and Jazz is America’s classical music”.
Interestingly, it is a music video by an European musical band Lag Jazz (Milano, Italy, 2017) that looks the best among the many renditions of 'On the sunny side of the street' available on YouTube. Released in black & white with the performers in vintage costumes using a classic microphone on a worn out stage floor, the video is evocative of the mid-twentieth century jazz bands. (There were reportedly numerous all-female jazz bands during the 1940s replacing men who left for World War II.) The singers’ sweet demeanour and graceful moves in harmony with the sunny theme of the song have been well filmed.
(Compilation includes information from Wikipedia)
Lyrics have been added as subtitles. Click on the link below to watch (3 min: 44 sec):