The song of the day for Wednesday, April 13, 2016 is “Ain’t Misbehavin’.”
About This Song
“Ain’t Misbehaving'” was composed in 1929 by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks with lyrics by Andy Razaf, for the 1929 musical revue Hot Chocolates, staged at Connie’s Inn in Harlem. Andy Razaf, the lyricist, says that Waller wrote the entire song in just 45 minutes. It has become one of Waller’s most well-known songs, perhaps due to the wildly successful Broadway musical revue Ain’t Misbehaving, which opened in 1978 (which your author had the great pleasure of seeing with the original cast).
About This Version
Tony Bennett’s only studio recording of “Ain’t Misbehaving'” was made in 1964 for his album When Lights Are Low. It was arranged by Ralph Sharon.
“Ain’t Misbehavin’,” as well as When Lights Are Low, is available from iTunes.
About Today
We are featuring “Ain’t Misbehaving'” in honor of the Mississippi author Eudora Welty, who was born in Jackson Mississippi on April 13, 1909. I had the great fortune to meet Eudora Welty in 1979, when I worked at New Stage Theater in Jackson and quite accidentally lived directly across the street in the house she grew up in and next door to the elementary school she attended. Welty, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for her novel The Optimist’s Daughter, loved jazz and especially loved the music of Fats Waller. One of her earliest and most famous short stories, Powerhouse, was based on Fats Waller. For all these reasons, and more, I am pleased to honor the great Eudora Welty by featuring one of her favorite songs.