Begin the Beguine

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"Begin the Beguine" is a song written by Cole Porter and introduced by June Knight in the Broadway musical Jubilee (1934). It was popularized and made famous by a best-selling record in 1938 by Artie Shaw and his orchestra (Bluebird). Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell created a celebrated dance to an instrumental version in Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940). In the movie "Night and Day", the Latin singer, Carlos Ramirez, performed a beautiful and authentic rendition of the song, along with an exotic dance performance number. "Begin the Beguine" was revived in 1981 by Julio Iglesias and became a major hit across Europe even though it was a laughably truncated version. Apparently Iglesias couldn't sing the original. The Andrews Sisters also had a major hit with this song.

A "beguine" is a spirited ballroom dance.

Since "begin" and "beguine" are often pronounced the same by some people, it is common to see the song's title misspelled as "Begin the Begin" - this was used by R.E.M. as the title to a track on Lifes Rich Pageant. In the movie De-Lovely about Cole Porter, the song was also featured.

"Begin the Beguine" was referenced in the 1968 animated movie, "Yellow Submarine":

Jeremy: I must complete my bust, two novels, finish my blueprint, begin my beguine.

John: Hey, Jeremy, must you always talk in rhyme?

Jeremy: Ha-ha! If I spoke prose, you'd all find out, I don't know what I talk about!

Considered by many musicians as one of the greatest popular songs ever written, it has an unusual and sophisticated musical form of A,A,B,A1,C,C1 with no introductory verse and, at 108 bars, is uncommonly long for a pop song. Most popular songs have the form of A,A,B,A and sometimes have an introductory verse which is often omitted in performance. In addition, the lyrics of "Begin the Beguine" are equally sophisticated to the form and are characteristic of Cole Porter's style and poetic abilities.

Preceded by "Under Pressure" by Queen & David Bowie

UK number one single (Julio Iglesias version) November 29, 1981

Succeeded by "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League