They Can't Take That Away from Me is a 1937 jazz and pop standard with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film Shall We Dance and performed to Ginger Rogers on a lonely ferry deck, a moment notable for not having a dance sequence. The song was released as a single in April 1937, with the B side "(I've) Beginner's Luck" on Brunswick 7855, and it has since become a widely covered standard. The lyrics express nostalgia and the idea that memories cannot be taken away, with lines about the way you wear your hat and the way we danced till three. It has been recorded by many artists including Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra, and has appeared in films and soundtracks, helping it endure as a staple of the Great American Songbook. George Gershwin died two months after the film's release and was posthumously nominated for Best Original Song at the 1937 Oscars, though the award went to Sweet Leilani.
