Charleston (song)



"The Charleston" is a jazz composition that was written to accompany the Charleston dance. It was composed in 1923, with lyrics by Cecil Mack and music by James P. Johnson, who first introduced the stride piano method of playing. The song was featured in the American black Broadway musical comedy show Runnin' Wild. The music of the dockworkers from South Carolina inspired Johnson to compose the music. The dance known as the Charleston came to characterize the times. It was this song that propelled the dance to international popularity and a place in musical history. Lyrics, though rarely sung (an exception is Chubby Checker's 1961 recording), were penned by Cecil Mack, himself one of the most accomplished songwriters of the early 1900s. The song's driving rhythm, basically the first bar of a 3 2 clave, came to have widespread use in jazz and is still referenced by name by musicians. Harmonically, the song features a five chord ragtime progression (I-VI7-II7-V7-I).

In the classic 1946 Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life with James Stewart and Donna Reed, the song was played during the school dance scene. In the movie Tea for Two (1950), with Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, the song was a featured production number.