A more complete version of the song:

The recording on which this is based is sung by Ella Fitzgerald, on an album called Two Sides of Ella. The song was written by Paul Francis Webster and Reginald Burke. I don't know when it was written; the earliest recording I could find was from 1938.

It's a ballad and can be found, among other places, in "The New Real Book, vol. 2" (Sher Music co.). Singers who have recorded this song include: Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae, Diane Shuur, Janis Siegel, Sarah Vaughan, and Roseanna Vitro.


I'm feeling mighty lonesome
Haven't slept a wink
I walk the floor and watch the door
And in between I drink
Black Coffee
Love's a hand me down brew
I'll never know a Sunday
In this weekday room

I'm talking to the shadows
1 o'clock to 4
And Lord, how slow the moments go
When all I do is pour
Black Coffee
Since the blues caught my eye
I'm hanging out on Monday
My Sunday dream's too dry

Now a man is born to go a lovin'
A woman's born to weep and fret
To stay at home and tend her oven
And drown her past regrets
In coffee and cigarettes

I'm moody all the morning
Mourning all the night
And in between it's nicotine
And not much hard to fight
Black Coffee
Feelin' low as the ground
It's driving me crazy just waiting for my baby
To maybe come around

My nerves have gone to pieces
My hair is turning gray
All I do is drink black coffee
Since my man's gone away