In addition to leading bands and playing the trombone, Glenn Miller composed music or lyrics to a number of songs. These and others were recorded by Miller with his pre-war civilian bands and his Army Air Forces Orchestra.

Compositions "Moonlight Serenade" Glenn Miller composed the music to "Miller's Tune" in 1935. He changed the title to "Moonlight Serenade" when he created his unique "sound" with Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. Lyrics were added later by Mitchell Parish after two other sets of lyrics were written. "Moonlight Serenade" was Glenn Miller's theme for his radio programs between 1939 and 1942 (except for a brief period in 1941).Simon 343 This song has been covered by Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow, Carly Simon,Carly Simon. Moonlight Serenade. Charlie Haden,Verve. Charlie Haden Quartet West, Haunted Heart. The Rivieras,Vladimir Bogdanov et al., All Music Guide to Soul. p 577 Toots Thielemans, Kurt Elling, Bucky Pizzarelli, Bobby Vinton, Deodato, Count Basie and his Orchestra, Gene Krupa and his Orchestra, the Boston Pops with Arthur Fiedler, John Williams, and Keith Lockhart, each conducting during their time with the orchestra. Ray Conniff, Paul Mauriat, and the rock group Chicago have versions of "Moonlight Serenade" on a 1995 3 inch CD single in Japan and on the album Night & Day Big Band (1995). "Moonlight Serenade" appears in the films Rumor Has It… (2005) and The Aviator (2004).

It was released as a B-side to "Sunrise Serenade", written by Frankie Carle.

The record reached number three on the Billboard magazine chart and was the number five record of 1939 in the year-end chart in Billboard's later analysis, the record not originally charting because Billboard did not have a nation chart in 1939. The 1939 RCA recording was issued as a V-Disc in November 1943 by the U.S. War Department. The recording reached number twelve in the UK in March 1954, staying on the chart for one week. In a medley with "Little Brown Jug" and "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade" reached number thirteen on the UK charts in January 1976, where it stayed for eight weeks.

"Room 1411 (Goin' to Town)" "Room 1411" was composed with Benny Goodman in 1928 when Glenn Miller was part of Benny Goodman's Boys, the instrumental was recorded on June 23, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois and was released as a 78 by Brunswick with "Jungle Blues". Benny Goodman's Boys consisted of Miller on trombone, Tommy Dorsey on trombone, who is not on the "Room 1411" recording, Dick "Icky" Morgan on guitar, Bud Freeman on tenor saxophone, Harry Goodman on bass and tuba, Fud Livingston on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Wingy Manone on trumpet, Jimmy McPartland on cornet, Ben Pollack on drums, Vic Briedis on piano, Harry Goodman on bass and tuba, and Benny Goodman on clarinet, saxophone, and cornet. On the January 1928 recording sessions, the band was referred to as "Benny Goodman's Boys with Jim and Glenn". The band continued to record in 1928 and 1929. Miller and Goodman lived in the same suite at the time in the apartments in The Whitby in New York whose number was 1411. In Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It (1955) by Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff, Jimmy McPartland recalled how the title originated: "[A]fter a couple of weeks we moved into the Whitby Apartments, where Gil Rodin, Dick Morgan, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller had a suite. We all moved into that, practically the whole band...The number of that apartment was 1411. And that is how that title came up, "Room 1411", by Benny Goodman's Boys." Goodman played baritone saxophone "on the more straight-ahead Chicago-style 'Room 1411'".Firestone, Swing, Swing, Swing, p.49 "Room 1411 (Goin' to Town)" is Glenn Miller's first known composition. Two versions of the instrumental were released. The recording was reissued in 1949 as part of the Brunswick Collectors' Series.

"Sold American" "Sold American" was composed in 1938 by Glenn Miller and John Chalmers "Chummy" MacGregor, the pianist in the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The title was recorded on May 23, 1938, for Brunswick and again on June 27, 1939, for RCA Victor. A 78 was released in 1938 as Brunswick 8173 with "Dipper Mouth Blues".Flower 14 In 1939, a new recording was released as a Bluebird 78 A side, 10352A, with "Pagan Love Song". The title is based on an American Tobacco Company radio ad jingle of the 1930s for Lucky Strike cigarettes with a tobacco auctioneer chant delivered by North Carolina tobacco auctioneer Lee Aubrey "Speed" Riggs which ended with the phrase, "Sold, American!", stressing that American only purchased the highest quality tobacco for its cigarettes. The song was performed live by Glenn Miller on March 8, 1939, and broadcast on the radio from a remote at the Meadowbrook Ballroom in Cedar Grove, New Jersey.Flower 49 "Sold American" was released as a single in the UK paired with "Moon Love" on the His Master's Voice label as BD5854.Flower 66,73

"Solo Hop" "Solo Hop" was a Top Ten hit from the summer of 1935, according to the official Glenn Miller Orchestra web site. Miller composed this for a pick-up band when he started recording for Columbia Records. "Solo Hop" included Bunny Berigan on trumpet, Claude Thornhill on piano, and Charlie Spivak on trumpet. It was released by Columbia as a single backed with "In a Little Spanish Town", label number CO-3058-D.Flower 1 According to the tsort.info, a website that accesses Billboard chart statistics, based on the research of Billboard chart analyst Joel Whitburn, "Solo Hop" reached number seven on the Billboard chart in 1935, staying on the chart for five weeks. George Simon, a friend of Miller, contradicts sources that say it was a top ten hit and says it was barely noticed by record buyers.Simon 68–69

"Introduction to a Waltz" "Introduction to a Waltz" was an instrumental composition written with Jerry Gray and Hal Dickinson in 1941 that was never commercially recorded for Bluebird. Two airchecks were issued, one from December 11, 1941, on LPT-6700 from a Chesterfield Broadcast. The other is from March 20, 1942, also from a Chesterfield Broadcast issued on LPT-3001.426 "'Introduction to a Waltz' has quite an introduction – 187 bars to be exact, with 8 bars of 'waltz' near the end of the tune."Flower 388 The performances included Billy May on trumpet, Tex Beneke on tenor saxophone, Chummy MacGregor on piano, and Moe Purtill on drums. Jerry Gray and his Orchestra released a version of the instrumental backed with "V Hop" in 1951 as a Decca 45, 27869, and as a 78, from the album A Tribute to Glenn Miller. Larry O'Brien and the Glenn Miller Orchestra recorded the instrumental on the 2006 album Steppin' Out. The Jack Million Band recorded the instrumental on their album In the Mood for Glenn Miller, Volume 1 in 2006.

"Annie's Cousin Fannie" "Annie's Cousin Fannie", which is sometimes listed as "Annie's Cousin Fanny" or as "Annie's Cousin Fannie is a Sweetie of Mine" from 1934, was written for the Dorsey Brothers Band and was recorded three times, first on June 4, 1934, in New York when Glenn Miller was part of the band and released by Brunswick b/w "Judy" and by Decca as the A side with "Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jibe" as the B side. The record also appears as "Annie's Cousin Fannie is a Sweetie of Mine" sung by Kay Weber, one of the first female singers of the Big Band Era, and Glenn Miller, who had discovered her. The Dorsey Band recorded three different versions of the song in June and August 1934, released on Brunswick and later on Decca.Weber explains the origins of the song: "There was a very popular song at the time called 'Annie Doesn't Live Here Any More' and Glenn wrote a spin-off of this song called 'Annie's Cousin Fannie Is a Sweetie of Mine'. I don't know why Tommy and Jimmy recorded it so much. I can only guess they were looking for the 'right' combination for the song."

"Dese Dem Dose" "Dese Dem Dose" was composed by Glenn Miller in 1935 for the Dorsey Brothers Band, was recorded in New York on February 6, 1935, and was released as a 78 on Decca paired with "Weary Blues" as Decca 469. Ray McKinley, a drummer in the Dorsey Brothers band, recalled: "Glenn did write a few things for us. I remember one thing called 'Dese, Dem and Dose' that he wrote and we recorded. He used to carry a little organ around with him to work on." (Simon, page 65) Ray Noble and his American Dance Orchestra performed "Dese Dem Dose" as part of a medley, "Dese Dem Dose/An Hour Ago This Minute/Solitude", on April 17, 1935, live at the Rainbow Room in New York which was recorded and broadcast and released in 2008 on the live CD by Galaxy Music The Rainbow Room New York Presents. Miller was in the Ray Noble orchestra at the time on trombone.Jazz trumpeter Billy Butterfield and Andy Bartha later covered "Dese Dem Dose". Miller also appeared with the Ray Noble Orchestra that year in the Hollywood movie musical The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935).

"When Icky Morgan Plays the Organ" "When Icky Morgan Plays the Organ" was a novelty song composed with lyrics and recorded by Glenn Miller in 1935 when he was a member of the Clark Randall Orchestra, which included Bob Crosby, Gil Rodin, and singer Frank Tennille, the father of Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille, whose pseudonym was Clark Randall. The title of the song comes from a slang expression used by Dick Morgan, an eccentric member of the Ben Pollack orchestra. Morgan was the banjo and guitar player in the band who used a replica of a python in his act. George Simon recalled how the song came about: "Glenn composed one of the songs, "When Icky Morgan Plays the Organ, Look Out!" — dedicated to his good friend Dick Morgan, who had played guitar in Pollack's band." Miller recorded ten songs with the Clark Randall orchestra in March 1935. "Icky Morgan" was released as a Brunswick 10 inch 78 single in 1935 as Brunswick 7415 backed with "Troublesome Trumpet".In 1936, Bob Crosby and his Orchestra, most of whose members played on the Randall version, performed this composition on the Ford V-8 Revue. The song appears on the 2001 compilation album Bob Crosby and His Orchestra: And Then Some, Parts 1 and 2 of the Complete Discography on Halcyon, HALC 142, and the 2005 compilation series The Glenn Miller Story, Vol. 1-2 on Avid Entertainment.

"Doin' the Jive" "Doin' the Jive" was composed by Glenn Miller and Chummy MacGregor in 1937 and recorded for Brunswick on November 29, 1937, and released as Brunswick 8063 with "Humoresque" and as Vocalion 5131 with "Dipper Mouth Blues", was a song with lyrics that introduced a new dance, "The Jive": "You clap your hands/And you swing out wide/Do the Suzie Q/ Mix in a step or two/Put 'em all together/And you're doin' the jive". There is dialogue between Miller and MacGregor. The solos are by Jerry Jerome on tenor sax and Irving Fazola on clarinet. A second version was released with Tex Beneke in the dialogue with Miller from a June 20, 1938 NBC radio broadcast from the Paradise Restaurant in New York City with Gail Reese on lead vocals. Simon reviewed the song in March, 1938, in Metronome magazine describing it as "much swing, fun, and good Kitty Lane singing." The band contributes vocals with Miller and MacGregor. The song was arranged by Miller.Flower, John. Liner Notes to the CD collection "Community Swing, Vol. 2, 1937-1938", Naxos Jazz Legends. Belgian bandleader Emile Deltour, under the pseudonym Eddie Tower, recorded a version on November 10, 1940, which was released as a Telefunken 78 single, A10232. [Best of Big Bands: Evolution of a Band, Glenn Miller, Sony, 1992.]

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