Nov. Song Of The Month--Crazy Rhythm

MikeK · November 7

This month's song is one that you can play with players of pretty much any skill level since it's super easy, but it's steeped in interesting history. It was composed in 1928 for the Broadway musical Here's Howe by Irving Caesar (lyrics) and Joseph Meyer & Roger Wolfe Kahn (music). But it rose to greater prominence when Doris Day sang it in the 1950 movie Tea For Two. Django recorded it twice: on 4/11/37 with Coleman Hawkins & Benny Carter and on 1/30/53 with a very late version of the Hot Club Quintette. Note that the later version was recorded a mere 3 and a half months before his death. I prefer the version from '37 so the link below is to that one. It's been reportedly recorded over 150 times with some of the more notable recordings being made by Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Nat King Cole Trio, Frank Sinatra & even Chet Atkins. When I called it on a gig a few years ago, one of my bandmates smiled and reported that it's featured in the 1970's spoof The Jerk with Steve Martin. (It's the song that he dances to "perfectly", thereby proving that has good rhythm when he dances). Here's the link to Django's version, I'll post the chart that my band uses later.

https://youtu.be/-4r3XNi5aPE?si=CnVqMCYbi68SBrGU