The songwriting team of Sammy Cahn (lyrics) and Jule Styne (music) wrote “Time After Time” during the period they were working closely with Frank Sinatra. It’s no surprise then that the version by “Ol’ Blue Eyes” hit the charts in 1947 and rose to #16.

Cahn and Styne had met Sinatra during his tenure with Tommy Dorsey, and when he left the trombonist’s band to start a solo career the pair began writing numbers for him. In 1946 they actually left New York on the train with Sinatra and family for Hollywood. Once there, the songwriters and Sinatra started putting on little “theatrical productions” involving their friends. According to Theodore Taylor’s biography Jule: The Story of Composer Jule Styne, these shows were elaborate presentations with complete scores and intricate sketches.

One night, however, the group assembled without a show. Jule asked Sinatra to ask the group if they had heard the new score written by Jerome Kern for the musical about the life of Annie Oakley (which would eventually be called Annie Get Your Gun). As it turns out, no one (including Jule) had, but the enterprising Styne created a melody that sounded to him like Kern. The group loved it and requested that Styne play more melodies from the show, which he conveniently couldn’t recall. A short while later Styne got together with Cahn who fit lyrics to the melody. Sinatra, accompanied by the orchestra of Axel Stohrdahl, recorded it for Columbia on October 26, 1946.

The following year Cahn and Styne wrote the music for the film It Happened in Brooklyn, starring Sinatra. Both Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson sing the number in the film, no doubt helping put Sinatra’s recording in the charts.