Ned Washington (August 15, 1901 – December 20, 1976) was an American lyricist.
Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962. He won the Best Original Music award twice: in 1940 for "When You Wish upon a Star" in Pinocchio and in 1952 for "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin')" in High Noon. "The Nearness of You" is a popular song, written in 1938 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Ned Washington.
The biggest selling 1938 version was recorded by the Glenn Miller orchestra, with a vocal by Ray Eberle (Bluebird catalog number 10745)[1][2]. This recording first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on July 20, 1940 (though this is misleading, as this was Billboard's first chart) and lasted 8 weeks on the chart, peaking at #5. [3] Other popular contemporary versions were recorded by Kay Kyser's orchestra (vocal: Harry Babbitt, Columbia catalog number 35488)[1][4], by Dinah Shore with Paul Weston's orchestra (Bluebird catalog number 10793)[2][1], and by Eddy Howard with Lou Adrian's orchestra (Columbia catalog number 35511)[1][5].
The song was performed by Norah Jones on her album Come Away With Me. It was.