Ain't Misbehavin' (song)

Ain't Misbehavin' is a 1929 stride jazz/early swing composition with 32 bars in AABA measure with a slow-to-moderate pace. With lyrics by Andy Razaf and score by Thomas "Fats" Waller and Harry Brooks,^[1] the number was created specifically as a theme song for the Razaf/Waller/Brooks off-Broadway musical comedy Connie's Hot Chocolates.^[2][3] In a 1941 interview with Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Fats claimed the song was written while "lodging" in alimony prison, and that is why he was not "misbehaving".

The song was first performed at the premiere of Connie's Hot Chocolates at Connie's Inn in Harlem as an opening number by Margaret Simms and Paul Bass, and repeated later in the musical by Russell Wooding's Hallelujah Singers. Connie's Hot Chocolates transferred to the Hudson Theatre on Broadway in June 1929, where it was renamed to Hot Chocolates and where Louis Armstrong took over as orchestra director. The script also required Armstrong to play Ain't Misbehavin' in a trumpet solo, and although this was initially slated to only be a reprise of the opening song, Armstrong's performance was so well received that the trumpeter was asked to climb out of the orchestra pit and play the piece on stage.

In the first half of the 20th century, when a tune was successful in terms of sheet music sold, it was typically recorded by several different artists. All six Ain't Misbehavin' recordings of 1929 were hits in the ASCAP rankings for that year:

• Leo Reisman and his orchestra (with vocals by Lew Conrad, #2)
• Louis Armstrong (#7)
• Bill Bojangles Robinson (with Irving Mills & his Hotsy Totsy Gang, #8)
• Gene Austin (with Leonard Joy & his orchestra, #9)
• Ruth Etting (#16)
• Fats Waller (instrumental version, #17)

Waller re-recorded the song with vocals for the 1943 film Stormy Weather. Waller's recording received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1984, and it was one of fifty recordings selected for inclusion in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2004. In 2001, it was one of 365 Songs of the Century selected by the RIAA.

Ain't Misbehavin' has been recorded by many other performers over the years, including Anita O'Day, Sarah Vaughan (for "Sarah Vaughan in Hi-Fi"; 1950), Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Django Reinhardt, Harry James, Miles Davis, Kay Starr, Frankie Laine, Art Tatum, Floyd Pepper, Sonny Stitt, Sam Cooke, Johnnie Ray, Sidney Bechet, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Elkie Brooks, Eyran Katsenelenbogen, Willie Nelson, Kermit Ruffins, Leon Redbone, Freddie White, Dave Brubeck, Johnny Hartman and Bill Haley & His Comets (who recorded a rock and roll version in 1957). Johnnie Ray's version reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1956.^[4] In 1960, Tommy Bruce and the Bruisers had a number 3 hit in the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of the song.^[5] Leon Redbone performed the song on Saturday Night Live in 1976. It served as the title song of the successful 1978 musical Ain't Misbehavin'.

Hank Williams, Jr. version

Hank Williams Jr.'s recording was one of the singles released from the album Five-O, his fiftieth album. The single met with great commercial success, making it to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1986. It was his eighth number one and Williams' version of "Ain't Misbehavin'" was also well received by critics, earning him nominations for the Country Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male.

Chart positions

See also

• List of 1920s jazz standards

References