I Can't Get Started - also known as I Can't Get Started with You - is a 1936 jazz standard with music by Vernon Duke and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, sung by Bob Hope and Eve Arden. Hal Kemp and his Orchestra scored a charting version, reaching number 14. Bunny Berigan's 1937 version - recorded first for Vocalion in 1936 and then for Victor - became a classic, with an extended four-chord introduction and a concerto-like trumpet display; this recording reached number 10 on the charts and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1975. The tune has been covered by many greats including Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Lennie Tristano, Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra (with altered lyrics), Ella Fitzgerald, and Jamie Cullum, and it remains a staple of 1930s jazz standards and torch songs. The Berigan recording appeared on a 12-inch Victor release as part of the album A Symposium of Swing.
