Nice Work If You Can Get It (song)
"Nice Work If You Can Get It" is a popular song and jazz standard.
The music was written by George Gershwin, the lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It began life in 1930 as a nine-bar phrase with the working title "There's No Stopping Me Now", and its eventual title phrase "Nice work if you can get it" came from an English magazine.[1][2] It was one of nine songs George Gershwin wrote for the movie A Damsel in Distress, in which it was performed by Fred Astaire with backing vocals provided by The Stafford Sisters. The song was published in 1937.
The first jazz recording of the work was by Tommy Dorsey, made three weeks after the release of the film.[2] Early chart versions were by Shep Fields, Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday, Fred Astaire, Maxine Sullivan and The Andrews Sisters.[3] The song was recorded by many jazz singers and rapidly adopted by bebop instrumentalists; Jerry Newman recorded pianist Thelonious Monk performing the tune in 1941 at Minton's Playhouse, a nightclub closely connected with early bebop, and he subsequently recorded it several times. Other jazz pianists who have recorded the tune include Art Tatum in 1949, Erroll Garner in 1968, and Jessica Williams in 1992.[2]
In the 1951 film An American in Paris, the song is performed by Georges Guétary.
A version of this song was used during the opening credits of the 1995 to 1998 CBS sitcom Cybill, starring Cybill Shepherd, who performed the song herself.[4]
The song was included in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Crazy for You and lent its name to the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It.
Other notable recordings
- Billie Holiday – Quintessential Billie Holiday: Vol. V (1937), and once again in 1955.
- Sarah Vaughan – Sarah Vaughan in Hi-Fi (1950) recorded in 1949
- Johnny Smith – Jazz at NBC (1952), later released on the compilation album Moonlight in Vermont (1956)
- Dinah Shore – Holding Hands at Midnight (1955)[5]
- Bing Crosby on his 1956 album Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings.
- Mel Tormé – Mel Tormé Sings Fred Astaire (1956)
- Frank Sinatra – A Swingin' Affair! (1957) and Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First (1962)
- Doris Day – Hooray For Hollywood (1958)
- Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959), Ella Fitzgerald and Andre Previn do Gershwin, Pablo Records, 1983
- Jeri Southern – Jeri Southern at the Crescendo (1960)[6]
- Thelonious Monk – It's Monk's Time (1964)
- Carol Sloane – But Not For Me (1986)
- Sting with Larry Adler on the tribute album The Glory of Gershwin (1994)
- Majestic 12 – Red Hot + Rhapsody (1998)
- June Christy – A Friendly Session, Vol. 2 (1999) with the Johnny Guarnieri Quintet
- Stan Kenton – At The Rendezvous: Vol 2 (2000) (vocal by Ann Richards)
- Barbara Carroll – One Morning In May (2002)
- The Hi-Lo's – A Musical Thrill (2006)
- Tony Bennett & Diana Krall – Love Is Here to Stay (2018)
See also
References
- ↑ "Nice Work If You Can Get It". Jazz Standards. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
- 1 2 3 Gioia, Ted (2012). The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire. Oxford University Press. pp. 295–297. ISBN 978-0-19-993739-4.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954. Wisconsin, US: Record Research Inc. p. 558. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
- ↑ Everett, Todd (July 26, 1995). "Cybill Shepherd". Variety. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
- ↑ "Discogs.com". Discogs.com. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
- ↑ "Discogs.com". Discogs.com. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
