"Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No Good)" is a song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Ted Koehler. It was written for their last show at the Cotton Club in 1934 and was sung by Adelaide Hall[1] In an interview, Adelaide Hall explained how she performed the song to great effect during the show:
I starred in the Cotton Club Parade where I sang "Ill Wind," which Harold Arlen had written for me. There were twenty-four girl dancers behind me all dressed in grey and I was in pink. It was the first show ever that had nitrogen smoke rise from the floor on stage.
The melody came to Arlen while he was visiting Anya Taranda, then a model who later became his wife.[3]
The song is also featured in the 1984 Francis Ford Coppola movie The Cotton Club sung by the actress Lonette McKee. McKee plays a character with similarities to Adelaide Hall in real life.
