"Tangerine" was introduced to a broad audience in the 1942 movie The Fleet's In, produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by Schertzinger just before his death, and starring Dorothy Lamour, William Holden, Eddie Bracken, singer Cass Daley, and Betty Hutton in her feature film debut.
The song portrays a South American woman with universally recognized allure: "When she dances by, / Señoritas stare / And caballeros sigh.
"[4] The most popular recorded version of the song was made by the performers who introduced it in the film: the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra with vocalists Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly.
On the record, Eberly sings "And I've seen toasts to Tangerine / Raised in every bar across the Argentine,"[1] the lyric that became standard.
More than 100 acts have recorded "Tangerine", including such notable artists as: Jimmy Dorsey, Johnny Mercer, Oscar Peterson, Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, Herb Alpert, Chet Baker and Paul Desmond, Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins, Jim Hall, Harry Connick Jr., and Benny Goodman In addition: