It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) is a 1931 jazz composition by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Irving Mills. It was first recorded by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra on February 2, 1932 for Brunswick Records, with Ivie Anderson on vocals and solos by Joe Nanton and Johnny Hodges, and later performances often featured Ray Nance on the vocal. The tune became a jazz standard and helped popularize the word swing in popular music, capturing a sentiment among early jazz musicians. The title is connected to trumpeter Bubber Miley, who was ill with tuberculosis at the time and died the year the song was released. In 2008 Ellington’s 1932 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song has been covered by many artists, including The Mills Brothers, The Boswell Sisters, Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, and Tony Bennett with Lady Gaga, and it remains a cornerstone of the Duke Ellington Orchestra’s swing repertoire.
