"I Got Rhythm" is a piece composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and published in 1930, which became a jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the "rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes such as Charlie Parker's and Dizzy Gillespie's bebop standard "Anthropology (Thrivin' on a Riff)".

Composition

The song came from the musical Girl Crazy which also includes two other hit songs, "Embraceable You" and "But Not For Me", and has been sung by many jazz singers since. It was originally written as a slow song for Treasure Girl (1928) and found another, faster setting in Girl Crazy. Ethel Merman sang the song in the original Broadway production and Broadway lore holds that George Gershwin, after seeing her opening reviews, warned her never to take a singing lesson.

The piece was originally penned in the key of D flat major. The song melody uses four notes of the five-note pentatonic scale, first rising, then falling. A rhythmic interest in the song is that the tune keeps behind the main pulse, with the three "I got..." phrases syncopated, appearing one beat behind in the first bar, while the fourth phase "Who could..." rushes in to the song. The song is in AABA form. Its chord progression, known as the "rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes. The song was used as the theme in Gershwin's last concert piece for piano and orchestra, the Variations on "I Got Rhythm", written in 1934. The song has become symbolic of the Gershwins, of swing, and of the 1920s.

As usual, George Gershwin wrote the melody first and gave it to Ira to set, but Ira found it an unusually hard melody for which to create lyrics. He experimented for two weeks with the rhyme scheme he felt the music called for, sets of triple rhymes, but found that the heavy rhyming "seemed at best to give a pleasant and jingly Mother Goose quality to a tune which should throw its weight around more." Finally he began to experiment with leaving most of the lines unrhymed. "This approach felt stronger," he wrote, "and I finally arrived at the present refrain, with only 'more-door' and 'mind him-find him' the rhymes." He added that this approach "was a bit daring for me who usually depended on rhyme insurance."

Ira also wrote that although the phrase "who could ask for anything more?" is repeated four times in the song, he decided not to make it the title because "somehow the first line of the refrain sounded more arresting and provocative."

History

An instrumental arrangement for piano and orchestra appears in the 1945 Hollywood Victory Caravan.

The song is featured in the 1951 musical film An American in Paris. Gene Kelly sang the song and tap-danced, while French-speaking children whom he had just taught a few words of English shouted the words "I got" each time they appeared in the lyrics. This version finished at #32 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

It is also featured in the film Mr. Holland's Opus, during a scene in which students are trying out for a Gershwin revue.

Also featured in the movie "My Girl", during a dinner scene when the grandmother sang it, oblivious of the others.

A complete list of notable singers who have recorded this song would take up several pages. The most popular versions are those of The Happenings (#3 on the US charts in 1967), Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, Ella Fitzgerald, and more recently, Jodi Benson.

It is a very popular jazz standard. Many songs use its chord progression, such as Duke Ellington's "Cotton Tail". Charlie Parker alone based many songs on its chord progression, e.g. "Moose the Mooche". Gary Larson referenced the song in the Far Side.

In 1939, I Got Rhythm was arranged and orchestrated by Bruce Chase for a premiere performance by the Kansas Philharmonic, now the Kansas City Symphony.

A version of the song set to a disco beat was recorded by Ethel Merman for her Ethel Merman Disco Album in 1979.

Another version of the song was arranged for solo guitar by Ton Van Bergeyk. It appears on the album Black and Tan Fantasy. Mike Oldfield and Wendy Roberts performed a version on Oldfield's Platinum album.

The song has appeared in several film versions of Girl Crazy:

• Girl Crazy (1932), performed by Kitty Kelly
• Girl Crazy (1943), performed by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney with Six Hits and a Miss, The Music Maids and Tommy Dorsey with his Orchestra
• When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965), performed by Harve Presnell and Connie Francis

Notable recordings

• Ernestine Anderson
• Fred Astaire
• Jodi Benson
• Don Byas and Slam Stewart (1945)
• Karen Carpenter - part of I Got Rhythm medley on special "The Carpenters: Music, Music, Music"
• Chris Connor - Warm Cool: The Atlantic Years (2000)
• Bing Crosby with Peggy Lee
• Ella Fitzgerald on Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959)
• Benny Goodman
• Judy Garland (solo recording for her Decca label) and in the film Girl Crazy (1943)
• The Happenings from the album Psycle (1967)
• Lena Horne (Remix feat. Q-Tip)
• Jovanotti for Gershwin compilation Red Hot + Rhapsody
• Gene Kelly
• Charlie Parker
• Lorna Luft - recorded for the 1990 studio cast recording of Girl Crazy
• Ethel Merman (several times), including a disco version for The Ethel Merman Disco Album (1979)
• Mike Oldfield in his album Platinum (1979), featuring vocals by Wendy Roberts
• Robert Palmer for the Gershwin tribute album The Glory of Gershwin (1994)
• John Pizzarelli
• The Residents recorded the song for George & James, and also done live for their 13th Anniversary Tour in 1986 (available on The 13th Anniversary Show Live in the U.S.A.)
• Rita Reys (1961)
• Barbra Streisand recorded the song for ...And Other Musical Instruments, as a medley with a number of other songs
• Martin Taylor recorded the song for Martin Taylor.
• Hiromi Uehara for the album Beyond Standard (2008)
• Leslie Uggams for her album More Leslie Uggams on TV as a medley with Fascinating Rhythm
• Ton Van Bergeyk
• Sarah Vaughan on Sweet 'n' Sassy (1963)
• Ethel Waters's performance is the one that is selected in the compilation The Essential George Gershwin.
• Wendi Williams & Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra recorded the song for the film and soundtrack of Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999). In the beginning of the film, Dorothy Dandridge (portrayed by Halle Berry) performs the song in a racially segregated Miami nightclub.
• Brian Wilson released his take on Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (2010).
• Nikki Yanofsky from the album Nikki (2010)

See also

• List of 1930s jazz standards

References

1. ^ Covach, John (2005), "Form in Rock Music: A Primer", in Stein, Deborah, Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis, New York: Oxford University Press, p.70, ISBN 0-19-517010-5 .
2. ^ Gershwin, Ira (1959). Lyrics on Several Occasions (First ed.). New York: Knopf. OCLC 538209. 
3. ^ Hollywood Victory Caravan and Bond Rallies, in Hollywood Goes to War: Collector's Edition, 2004 pressing, Diamond Entertainment, Disk 1.
4. ^ "See You in September", Billboard. Accessed October 3, 2007.
5. ^ ""Violinist Arranges Laughter at Symphony:" ''The Milwaukee Sentinel'', April 11, 1984". News.google.com. 1984-04-11. Retrieved 2012-02-23. 
6. ^ The Ethel Merman Disco Album, Track 7. 1979 recording reissued on CD in 2002 by Universal Music Enterprises, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
7. ^ "Happenings, The – I Got Rhythm / You're In A Bad Way". Discogs. Retrieved 24 November 2013. 
8. ^ http://www.thehappenings.com/discography.html
9. ^ Ethel Merman with Orchestra Directed by Jay Blackton. Recorded December 12, 1947, New York City, Master #74230-A, originally released on Decca single 24453 B and Ethel Merman: Songs She Made Famous, album DA-681, June 28, 1948. Source notes from Front Row Center: The Broadway Gold Box, 1935 - 1988. Four Compact Disc Set, Broadway Gold/MCA Classics, MCAD4-11353 (1996)
10. ^ Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments, Columbia Records/CBS, Inc. (1973)

Sources

• Greenberg, Rodney (1998). George Gershwin. Phaidon Press. ISBN 0-7148-3504-8.
• Gershwin, George (1996). The Complete Gershwin Keyboard Works. Warner Brothers Publications. ISBN 978-1-57623-743-4.