A torch song is a musical lament centred on romantic heartbreak, derived from the metaphor of 'carrying a torch' for a lost lover. Jazz Age performer Tommy Lyman is credited as the genre's originator, having developed and popularised both the terminology and the intimate, emotionally vulnerable performance style in cabarets and lounges during the 1910s. By the mid-twentieth century, torch singing had become an established tradition within lounge music and cabaret entertainment.

Judy Garland's 1954 performance of 'The Man That Got Away' in a remake of A Star Is Born stands as the artistic zenith of the torch song tradition. Composed by Ira Gershwin and Harold Arlen—the same songwriting team behind Garland's earlier 'Over the Rainbow'—the piece captures the genre's essential qualities: profound emotional vulnerability regarding lost love interwoven with resilient artistic determination. The performance represents the full maturity and emotional power that characterised the torch song at its creative peak.