Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby
"Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" is a 1944 Louis Jordan song, released as the B-side of a single with "G.I. Jive". "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" reached No. 1 on the US folk/country charts.[1] The Louis Jordan recording also peaked at number two for three weeks on the pop chart and peaked at number three on the R&B charts.[2] This was Jordan's second and last country chart No. 1, and the last No. 1 country chart topper for an African American artist until Charley Pride scored his first No.1, All I Have to Offer You (Is Me) on August 9, 1969.
It was co-written by Jordan and Billy Austin. Austin (March 6, 1896 – July 24, 1964) was a songwriter and author, born in Denver, Colorado. The phrase "is you is or is you ain't" is dialect, apparently first recorded in a 1921 story by Octavus Roy Cohen, a Jewish writer from South Carolina who wrote humorous black dialect fiction. Glenn Miller recorded this song on a radio broadcast from Europe during World War II.
Cover versions
- The tune has become something of a jazz standard with versions recorded by artists including The Andrews Sisters, June Christy, Bing Crosby, Nat "King" Cole, Buster Brown, Glenn Miller, Renee Olstead, Dinah Washington, Woody Herman, Anita O'Day, Joe Williams, B.B. King with Dr. John, Vic Damone, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Diana Krall, Joe Jackson and Emilie-Claire Barlow. There was also a cover of this on Tom and Jerry, sung by Ira Woods as Tom Cat in Solid Serenade (1946) on the double bass.
- Max Cullen sings the song in the style of Billie Holiday in the 1995 film Billy's Holiday.
- A version by the JB Jazz and Blues Band featured prominently in the closing scenes of the final episode of the first series of Spaced by Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes in 1999.
- A remix of the Dinah Washington version by Rae & Christian appeared on the Verve Remixed (2002) album.
- Joe Jackson covered this song on his Jumpin Jive album.
- The song was used in an advertisement for credit card Access with the words changed to "does you do or does you don't take Access?"
References
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 184.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 309.
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| | | Albums |
- Music of Hawaii (1939)
- Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. One (1939)
- Patriotic Songs for Children (1939)
- Cowboy Songs (1939)
- Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. Two (1939)
- George Gershwin Songs, Vol. One (1939)
- Ballad for Americans (1940)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs (1940)
- Christmas Music (1940)
- Star Dust (1940)
- Hawaii Calls (1941)
- Small Fry (1941)
- Crosbyana (1941)
- Under Western Skies (1941)
- Song Hits from Holiday Inn (w/ Fred Astaire) (1942)
- Merry Christmas (1945)
- Selections from Going My Way (1945)
- Selections from The Bells of St. Mary's (1946)
- Don't Fence Me In (1946)
- The Happy Prince (1946)
- Selections from Road to Utopia (1946)
- Stephen Foster Songs (1946)
- What We So Proudly Hail (1946)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. One (1946)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. Two (1946)
- Blue Skies (w/ Fred Astaire) (1946)
- Jerome Kern Songs (1946)
- St. Patrick's Day (1947)
- Victor Herbert Songs (1947)
- Cowboy Songs, Vol. One (1947)
- Selections from Welcome Stranger (1947)
- Our Common Heritage (1947)
- El Bingo (1947)
- The Small One (1947)
- The Man Without a Country (1947)
- Drifting and Dreaming (1947)
- Blue of the Night (1948)
- Selections from Showboat (1948)
- The Emperor Waltz (1948)
- St. Valentine's Day (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters (1948)
- Selections from Road to Rio (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Johnny Mercer (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Lionel Hampton, Eddie Heywood, Louis Jordan (1948)
- Cowboy Songs, Vol. Two (1948)
- Auld Lang Syne (1948)
- A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court (1949)
- Bing Crosby Sings Songs By George Gershwin (1949)
- South Pacific (1949)
- Christmas Greetings (1949)
- Ichabod - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)
- Top o' the Morning / Emperor Waltz (1949)
- Songs from Mr. Music (1950)
- Go West Young Man (1950)
- Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris (1953)
- Some Fine Old Chestnuts (1954)
- Selections from White Christmas (1954)
- Bing: A Musical Autobiography (1954)
- High Tor (1956)
- A Christmas Sing with Bing around the World (1956)
- High Society (w/ Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, and Louis Armstrong) (1956)
- Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (1956)
- Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956)
- Bing with a Beat (1957)
- A Christmas Story (1957)
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1957)
- Never Be Afraid (1957)
- Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy (1957)
- New Tricks (1957)
- Fancy Meeting You Here ( w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1958)
- How the West Was Won (1959)
- Bing & Satchmo (w/ Louis Armstrong) (1960)
- 101 Gang Songs (1960)
- Holiday in Europe (1960)
- The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
- On the Happy Side (1962)
- On the Sentimental Side (1962)
- I Wish You a Merry Christmas (1962)
- Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre (1963)
- Return to Paradise Islands (1963)
- Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits (1963)
- America, I Hear You Singing (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring) (1964)
- 12 Songs of Christmas (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring) (1964)
- That Travelin' Two-Beat (w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1965)
- Bing 'n' Basie (w/ Count Basie) (1972)
- A Couple of Song and Dance Men (w/ Fred Astaire) (1975)
- Seasons (1977)
- Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas (1998)
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- LaVerne Andrews
- Maxene Andrews
- Patty Andrews
| | Singles |
- "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön"
- "Nice Work If You Can Get It"
- "Shortenin' Bread"
- "Oh! Ma-Ma!"
- "Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out the Barrel)"
- "Ciribiribin (They're So In Love)"
- "Say Si Si (Para Vigo Me Voy)"
- "The Woodpecker Song"
- "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar"
- "Scrub Me, Mama, With a Boogie Beat"
- "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"
- "I Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)"
- "(I'll Be With You) In Apple Blossom Time"
- "Sonny Boy"
- "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree"
- "Mister Five By Five"
- "Pistol Packin' Mama"
- "Jingle Bells"
- "Shoo-Shoo Baby"
- "Down In the Valley"
- "Straighten Up and Fly Right"
- "Tico Tico"
- "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby"
- "A Hot Time In the Town of Berlin"
- "Don't Fence Me In"
- "Rum and Coca-Cola"
- "Accentuate the Positive"
- "The Three Caballeros"
- "Along the Navajo Trail"
- "Get Your Kicks On Route 66"
- "I Don't Know Why"
- "House of Blue Lights"
- "Rumors Are Flying"
- "Winter Wonderland"
- "There's No Business Like Show Business"
- "Near You"
- "Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)"
- "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town"
- "Sabre Dance"
- "Underneath the Arches"
- "You Call Everybody Darling"
- "Don't Rob Another Man's Castle"
- "I Can Dream, Can't I?"
- "Charley, My Boy"
- "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You"
- "The Wedding Samba"
- "I Wanna Be Loved"
- "A Bushel and a Peck"
- "Mele Kalikimaka"
- "Sparrow in the Tree Top"
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- Book:The Andrews Sisters
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