Get Happy (song)

"Get Happy" is a song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics written by Ted Koehler. It echoes themes of a Christian evangelical revivalist meeting song.

It was the first song they wrote together, and was introduced by Ruth Etting in The Nine-Fifteen Revue in 1930.

In pop culture
Influenced by the Get Happy tradition, it is most associated with Judy Garland, who performed it in her last MGM film Summer Stock (1950). An instrumental, hot jazz arrangement of the song, performed by Abe Lyman's Brunswick Recording Orchestra, served as the original theme music for Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies cartoons in 1932. Garland sang this song with Barbra Streisand in a medley that also included "Happy Days Are Here Again" on The Judy Garland Show.

The song lyrics incorporate the title phrase in the longer phrase "Come on, get happy", but it should not be confused with the Partridge Family theme song "C'mon Get Happy".

Notable recordings

 * June Christy - Day Dreams (1995), A Friendly Session, Vol. 3 (1998), Cool Christy (2002)
 * Eddie Costa - Eddie Costa Vinnie Burke Trio (1956)
 * Johnny Dankworth - The Best Of Johnny Dankworth (2008)
 * Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook (1961)
 * Jane Horrocks - Little Voice (1998)
 * Hugh Laurie and Lisa Edelstein - House "Bombshells" (2011)
 * Lea Michele and Chris Colfer - Glee (2010)
 * Red Norvo and his Selected Sextet (including Charlie Parker) (1945)
 * Bud Powell - Jazz Giant (1950)
 * Frank Sinatra - Swing Easy! (1954)
 * Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall (2007)