What Is This Thing Called Love is a 1929 popular song written by Cole Porter for the musical Wake Up and Dream. It was first published by Harms and performed by Elsie Carlisle in March 1929 - the London show ran 263 performances and the Broadway version featured Frances Shelley. The tune quickly became a jazz standard and has been recorded by many artists, including Libby Holman, Ben Bernie and Fred Rich, Artie Shaw, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Les Paul. It is often played at a brisk tempo in jazz, though there are slower readings as well, such as the Clifford Brown and Max Roach joint version with Sonny Rollins in 1956. The chord progression also inspired contrafacts like Hot House and Subconscious Lee.
