I Got Rhythm (song)

"I Got Rhythm" is a song 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' From 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 later expanded and used as the theme in Gershwin's last concert piece Variations on "I Got Rhythm" 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 to create lyrics for. 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
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.

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

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, 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.

The piece I Got Rhythm was originally penned in the key of D flat major.

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.

Notable recordings

 * Judy Garland
 * Bing Crosby with Peggy Lee
 * The Happenings
 * Ernestine Anderson
 * Fred Astaire
 * Ella Fitzgerald on Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959)
 * Sarah Vaughan
 * Rita Reys (1961)
 * Gene Kelly
 * Ethel Merman (several times)
 * The Residents recorded the song for George & James, and also done live for their 13th Anniversary Tour in 1986.
 * Barbra Streisand recorded the song for "...And Other Musical Instruments"
 * Martin Taylor recorded the song for Martin Taylor.
 * Hiromi Uehara
 * 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.
 * Ethel Waters's performance is the one that is selected in the compilation The Essential George Gershwin.
 * Lena Horne
 * Brian Wilson released his take on Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (2010).
 * Jovanotti for Gershwin compilation Red Hot + Rhapsody
 * Mike Oldfield in his album Platinum (1979)
 * Don Byas and Slam Stewart (1945)
 * Lena Horne ft. Q-Tip