It Happened in Sun Valley
song performed by Glenn Miller
"It Happened in Sun Valley" is a 1941 song composed by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Mack Gordon. It was recorded and featured by Glenn Miller and his orchestra in the movie Sun Valley Serenade.
Background
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra released the song as an RCA Bluebird 78 rpm single, B-11263-A, in 1941 as a tie-in with the movie, which also featured Glenn Miller and his Orchestra in a performance of the song onscreen with the cast. The B side was "The Kiss Polka", also from the Sun Valley Serenade soundtrack.
While the song makes no mention of Christmas in its lyrics, the winter theme has caused it to become associated with the holiday. Cover versions have been recorded by such artists as André Previn (on his 1955 album Let's Get Away from It All), Jo Stafford (on her 1956 album Ski Trails), the Randy Van Horne Singers (on their 1960 album Sleighride), and Mel Tormé (on his 1992 album Christmas Songs). The song is performed in character by South Park characters Stan Marsh and Wendy Testaburger as part of the 1999 holiday album "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics."
Chart history
The Glenn Miller RCA Bluebird recording, B-11263-A, with "Vocal Refrain by Paula Kelly, Ray Eberle, Tex Beneke, and The Modernaires, reached #18 on the Billboard chart in 1941.
References
Sources
Flower, John (1972). Moonlight Serenade: a bio-discography of the Glenn Miller Civilian Band.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “It Happened in Sun Valley” as song performed by Glenn Miller. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as song performed by Glenn Miller. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4041659. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941, 1955, 1956 and 1960.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “It Happened in Sun Valley” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.