It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington, with lyrics by Irving Mills, now accepted as a jazz standard. The music was written and arranged by Ellington in August 1931 during intermissions at Chicago's Lincoln Tavern and was first recorded by Ellington and his orchestra for Brunswick Records (Br 6265) on February 2, 1932. Ivie Anderson sang the vocal and trombonist Joe Nanton and alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges played the instrumental solos. The title was based on the oft stated credo of Ellington's former trumpeter Bubber Miley, who was dying of tuberculosis. The song became famous, Ellington wrote, "as the expression of a sentiment which prevailed among jazz musicians at the time." Probably the first song to use the phrase "swing" in the title, it introduced the term into everyday language and presaged the swing era by three years. The Ellington band played the song continually over the years and recorded it numerous times, most often with trumpeter Ray Nance as vocalist.
Notable recordings of the song by other artists include:
- Washboard Rhythm Kings – Washboard Rhythm Kings Vol. 3 (1932)
- Boswell Sisters (1932)
- Django Reinhardt with Stéphane Grappelli – Swing from Paris (1935)
- Thelonious Monk – Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington (1955)
- Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (1957), Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur (1967), Ella in London (1974)
- Gigi Gryce – Gigi Gryce (Metrojazz, 1958)
- Nina Simone – Nina Simone Sings Ellington (1962)
- June Christy – A Lovely Way to Spend An Evening (1986), Big Band Specials (1962)
- Carmen McRae, Betty Carter – The Carmen McRae – Betty Carter Duets (1987)
- Tony Bennett – MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett (1995), Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool (1999)
- The SuperJazz Big Band of Birmingham, Alabama recorded the song on the CD, "UAB SuperJazz, Featuring Ellis Marsalis." (2001)
- Gabin – Doo Uap, Doo Uap, Doo Uap (2002)
- Eva Cassidy – American Tune (2003)
- The Mills Brothers – Golden Greats (2002), Goodbye, Blues (2005)
- Della Reese, Raven-Symoné, Anneliese van der Pol- That's So Raven (2006)
- Club des Belugas – SWOP! (feat. Brenda Boykin) (2008)
- Asuka Sakai – "A Crimson Rose and Gin Tonic"
- The Puppini Sisters – The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo (incorporating some new lyrics and music and lyrics from "Puttin' on the Ritz", "Over the Rainbow", "Mambo Italiano" and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby") (2008)
The song's refrain was sung several times by various characters in the 1993 movie Swing Kids.
The song was covered by Alvin and the Chipmunks for their TV series episode "Match Play."
The musical similarity suggests this piece may have inspired the 1955 piece "Leningradskie Vechera" ("Leningrad Nights") by composer Vasily Solovyov, which was changed to "Moscow Nights" and subsequently widely popularized in the West in 1961 by "Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen 7" as "Midnight in Moscow."
On American Public Media's Marketplace, when they "do the numbers", the instrumental plays to denote the financial markets ended the day mixed, e.g., the DJIA gained while the NASDAQ lost.
Evander Holyfield & Edyta Sliwinska danced a Quickstep to this song in Season 1 of Dancing with the Stars.
Nancy Grace & Tristan MacManus danced a Quickstep to this song in Season 13 of Dancing with the Stars.
See also
