Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
(Brunswick 6265)
Recorded February 2, 1932
Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra
Vocals [uncredited] – Ivie Anderson
"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Irving Mills. It is now accepted as a jazz standard, and jazz historian Gunther Schuller characterized it as "now legendary" and "a prophetic piece and a prophetic title". In 2008, Ellington's 1932 recording of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The music was composed and arranged by Ellington in August 1931 during intermissions at the Lincoln Tavern in Chicago; the lyrics were contributed by Irving Mills. According to Ellington, the song's title was the credo of trumpeter Bubber Miley, who was dying of tuberculosis at the time; Miley died the year the song was released.
The song was first recorded by Ellington and his orchestra for Brunswick Records on February 2, 1932. Ivie Anderson sang the vocal and trombonist Joe Nanton and alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges played the solos. In later performances, trumpeter Ray Nance often sang the vocal.
The song became famous, Ellington wrote, "as the expression of a sentiment which prevailed among jazz musicians at the time". It contains one of the earliest uses in popular music of the term "swing".
Lyrics:
It don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing
It don't mean a thing
All you got to do is sing
It makes no difference
If it's sweet or hot
Just keep that rhythm
Give everything you got
It don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing
It don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing
(Brunswick 6265)
Recorded February 2, 1932
Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra
Vocals [uncredited] – Ivie Anderson
"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Irving Mills. It is now accepted as a jazz standard, and jazz historian Gunther Schuller characterized it as "now legendary" and "a prophetic piece and a prophetic title". In 2008, Ellington's 1932 recording of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The music was composed and arranged by Ellington in August 1931 during intermissions at the Lincoln Tavern in Chicago; the lyrics were contributed by Irving Mills. According to Ellington, the song's title was the credo of trumpeter Bubber Miley, who was dying of tuberculosis at the time; Miley died the year the song was released.
The song was first recorded by Ellington and his orchestra for Brunswick Records on February 2, 1932. Ivie Anderson sang the vocal and trombonist Joe Nanton and alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges played the solos. In later performances, trumpeter Ray Nance often sang the vocal.
The song became famous, Ellington wrote, "as the expression of a sentiment which prevailed among jazz musicians at the time". It contains one of the earliest uses in popular music of the term "swing".
Lyrics:
It don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing
It don't mean a thing
All you got to do is sing
It makes no difference
If it's sweet or hot
Just keep that rhythm
Give everything you got
It don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing
It don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing
