"The Very Thought of You" is a pop standard published in 1934, with music and lyrics by Ray Noble. In addition to Noble's own hit recording of the song with his orchestra, featuring the vocals of Al Bowlly, there was also a popular version recorded that same year by Bing Crosby. A decade later, the song was on the charts again in a version by Vaughn Monroe. Doris Day sang the song in the 1950 movie Young Man with a Horn, a fictional tale partly based on the life of early jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke.
In 1961, "The Very Thought of You" was on the charts again, in a rhythm & blues version recorded by Little Willie John, and three years later a rock and roll version by Ricky Nelson reached #26 on the Billboard chart, lasting 7 weeks in the Hot 100 and crossing to #11 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart.
Ella Fitzgerald recorded this with Nelson Riddle on the 1962 Verve release "Ella Swings Gently with Nelson", and then again, live, on her 1974 Pablo release Ella in London, with Joe Pass on guitar.
There have also been numerous recordings of the song by jazz and pop standards artists, including Frank Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole, Carmen McRae, Billie Holiday, and Elvis Costello; and a blues version on Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign album. More recently, Tony Bennett and Paul McCartney recorded a duet version of the song for the former's album, Duets: An American Classic. An instrumental version of the song is also among the background music in the film Casablanca in the scene where Sascha kisses Rick Blaine on the cheek.
Sinatra's recording was on the 1962 LP Frank Sinatra sings Great Songs from Great Britain. The LP was recorded in London, England, arranged and conducted by the legendary Canadian composer/arranger Robert "Bob" Farnon. It is the only Sinatra studio session recorded outside the United States. Farnon told musician/journalist Harry Currie that "The Very Thought of You" was his favourite track on the LP. Currie himself has sung the song with both the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Victoria Symphony using Farnon's original Sinatra arrangement with Farnon's permission. Currie has also adapted the arrangement for vocal with large wind ensemble including piano.