I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) is a 1941 pop and jazz standard composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. It was introduced in the Broadway musical Jump for Joy by Ivie Anderson, who also sang with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra on the original 1941 single released by Victor. The Ellington recording reached number 13 on the Billboard charts in 1941, and Benny Goodman with Peggy Lee reached number 25 the following year. A staple of the jazz repertoire, it has been recorded by dozens of artists - including Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Rosemary Clooney, and Frank Sinatra - and appears on many albums over the years. The song’s lyrics describe the ache of falling in love and feeling that love is not good for the singer, a moody, sophisticated mood that helped define Ellington’s pop and jazz sound.
