Let's Call the Whole Thing Off is a 1937 jazz-pop tune written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the Fred Astaire–Ginger Rogers film Shall We Dance, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers during a famous roller-skate dance duet. The first recording was Fred Astaire with Johnny Green and His Orchestra on March 3, 1937, and it was released as a Brunswick 7857 single in April 1937. The tempo is described as brightly, and the song is best known for its playful contrast between American and British English pronunciations—notably the to-may-to versus to-mah-to line—which also hints at class differences. It has been covered by many artists, including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke, and Bing Crosby with Rosemary Clooney, and Harry Connick Jr. for When Harry Met Sally. The tune is ranked No. 34 on AFI’s 100 Years...100 Songs. It continues to appear in films and on stage, and has been heard in The Simpsons and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, among other later performances.
