DINAH
Music: Harry Akst- Lyrics: Sam M. Lewis, Joseph Young
Year: 1925
Origin of the song
Eddie Cantor was the star in the musical Kid Boots, which was released on 31 December 1923 in the Earl Carroll Theatre of New York and performed four hundred and eighty nine times. The song ‘Dinah’ was added to the original score, which Cantor performed at the end of the show and delighted the public.
In October 1925, Ethel Waters, who was standing in for the actress Florence Mills during Summer in the Plantation Club of Broadway, recorded the song and, surprisingly, the disc entered the top charts and reached the second position. Some years later, in 1932, Bing Crosby and The Mills Brothers lead the song to the top of the charts.
Apart from ‘Dinah’, Harry Akst composed the music of the songs ‘Home Again Blues’ (1921), ‘Baby Face’ (1926), and ‘Am I Blue?’ (1929).
Sam M. Lewis and Joseph Young wrote together the lyrics of ‘Rock-a-bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody’ (1918), ‘I’m Sitting on Top of the World’ (1924), and ‘In a Little Spanish Town’ (1930). The first one alone, ‘Street of Dreams’ (1931), ‘Just Friends’ (1931), ‘For All We Know’ (1934), and ‘Gloomy Sunday’ (1936), and the latest, ‘You’re My Everything’ (1931), ‘In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town’ (1932), ‘Lullaby of the Leaves’ (1932), and ‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter’ (1935).
Versions in the top charts
|
PERFORMERS |
DATE OF RECORDING |
DAY OF
ENTRANCE |
PERMANENCE WEEKS |
HIGH POSITION REACHED |
|
|
1925.09.04 |
1926.01.16 |
6 |
4 |
Lewis James, Franklyn Baur, Elliott Shaw, Wilfred Glenn (voc), Ed Smalle (p) |
|
|
Ethel Waters |
1925.10.20 |
1926.01.23 |
8 |
2 (two weeks) |
Ethel Waters (voc), Plantation Orchestra, Ralph James (dir) |
|
1925.12.?? |
1926.03.06 |
3 |
5 |
Cliff Edwards (voc, uke) |
|
|
Fletcher Henderson Orchestra |
1926.01.06 |
1926.04.24 |
1 |
13 |
Instrumental |
|
Ted Lewis Orchestra |
1930.01.24 |
1930.05.10 |
7 |
13 |
Ted Lewis, Four Dusty Travelers (voc) |
|
1931.12.16 |
1932.01.09 |
9 |
1 (two weeks) |
Bing Crosby, The Mills Brothers (voc), Brunswick Studio Orchestra, Bernie Krueger (dir) |
|
|
The Boswell Sisters |
1934.12.13 |
1935.04.20 |
6 |
3 |
Connee & Helvetia Boswell (voc),
Martha Boswell (voc, p), Bobby Sherwood (g) |
|
Fats Waller & His Rhythm |
1935.06.24 |
1936.12.12 |
4 |
7 |
Fats Waller (p, voc) |
|
1946.04.03 |
1946.07.13 |
6 |
9 |
Instrumental |
Jazz. Outstanding performances
Instrumental
|
PERFORMERS |
DATE OF RECORDING |
MUSICIANS WHO TOOK PART IN THE RECORDING
|
|
1926.01.04 |
Bubber Miley (tp), Charlie Irvis (tb), Otto Hardwick (as), Coleman Hawkins or Prince Robinson (ts), Clarence Williams (p), Buddy Christian o Leroy Harris (bjo), Henry Edwards (b) |
|
|
1926.01.06 |
Fletcher Henderson (p, dir), Russell Smith (tp), Joe Smith (cnt), Charlie Green (tb), Buster Bailey (cl, ss, as), Don Redman (cl, as), Coleman Hawkins (cl, ts, bars), Charlie Dixon (bjo), Ralph Escudero (b), Kaiser Marshall (d) |
|
|
1928.03.28 |
Joe Venuti (vn), Don Murray (bars), Rube Bloom (p), Eddie Lang (g) |
|
|
1934.12.28 |
Django Reinhardt (g), Stéphane Grappelli (vn), Joseph Reinhardt, Roger Chaput (g), Louis Vola (b) |
|
|
1936.08.26 |
Benny Goodman (cl), Teddy Wilson (p), Lionel Hampton (vib), Gene Krupa (d) |
|
|
1938.08.31 |
Max Kaminsky (tp), Dicky Wells (tb), Pee Wee Russell (cl), Al Gold (ts), James P. Johnson (p), Freddie Green (g), Wellman Braud (b), Zutty Singleton (d) |
|
|
1939.12.21 |
Benny Carter (tp), Edmond Hall (cl), Coleman Hawkins (ts), Joe Sullivan (p), Freddy Greene (g), Artie Bernstein (b), Zutty Singleton (d), Lionel Hampton (vib) |
|
|
Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra |
1940.02.28 |
Jimmie Lunceford (dir), Eugene E. Young, Gerald Wilson, Paul Webster (tp), Elmer Crumbley, Russell Bowles, Trummy Young (tb), Ted Buckner, Dan Grissom (as), Earl Caruthers (cl, as, bars), Eddie Wilcox (p), Al Norris (g), Moses Allen (b), Jimmy Crawford (d) |
|
1952.07.09 |
Chet Baker (tp), Gerry Mulligan (bars), Jimmie Rowles (p), Joe Mondragon (b) |
|
|
Erroll Garner Trio |
1954.03.26 |
Erroll Garner (p), Wyatt Ruther (b), Eugene Heard (d) |
|
1958.02.18 |
Bud Shank (fl, as), Bob Cooper (ob, ts), Claude Williamson (p), Don Prell (b), Chuck Flores (d) |
|
|
1964.11.02 |
Thelonious Monk (p) |
|
|
Ralph Sutton Quartet |
1968.02.29 |
Ralph Sutton (p), Ruby Braff (cnt), Milt Hinton (b), Mousie Alexander (d) |
|
Ruby Braff & Scott Hamilton |
1985.??.?? |
Ruby Braff (cnt), Scott Hamilton (ts), John Bunch (p), Chris Flory (g), Phil Flanigan (b), Chuck Riggs (d) |
|
Dick Hyman & Ralph Sutton |
1993.11.12 |
Dick Hyman, Ralph Sutton (p) |
|
Nicholas Payton & Doc Cheatham |
1996.10.09 |
Nicholas Payton, Doc Cheatham (tp), Butch Thompson (p), Les Muscutt (g), Bill Huntington (b), Ernie Elly (d) |
Vocal
|
PERFORMERS |
DATE OF RECORDING |
MUSICIANS WHO TOOK PART IN THE RECORDING
|
|
1925.10.20 |
Ethel Waters (voc), Plantation Orchestra, Ralph James (dir) |
|
|
1930.05.04 |
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Ed Anderson (tp), Henry Hicks (tb), Bobby Holmes (cl, as), Theodore McCord (as), Castor McCord (cl, ts), Joe Turner (p), Bernhard Addison (g), Lavert Hutchinson (b), Willie Lynch (d) |
|
|
Bing Crosby & The Mills Brothers |
1931.12.16 |
Bing Crosby, Herbert, Harry & Donald Mills (voc), John Mills (voc, g), Frank Guarente (tp), Will Bradley (tb), Les Dreyer (as), Max Farley (ts), Joe Meresco (p), Eddie Lang, Hank Stern (g), Larry Gomar (d), Fred Glickman, Max Solowsky (vn), Bernie Krueger (dir) |
|
1932.02.09 |
Duke Ellington (p, dir), Freddy Jenkins, Arthur Whetsel (tp), Cootie Williams (tp, voc), Joe Nanton (tb), Juan Tizol (vtb), Barney Bigard (cl, ts), Johnny Hodges (as, ss, cl), Harry Carney (bars, cl, as), Fred Guy (bjo, g), Wellman Braud (b), Sonny Greer (d, voc) |
|
|
1934.12.13 |
Connee, Helvetia & Martha Boswell (voc), Bobby Sherwood (g), unidentified (p) |
|
|
1935.06.24 |
Fats Waller (p, voc), Herman Autrey (tp), Rudy Powell (cl, as), James Smith (g), Charles Turner (b), Arnold Boling (d) |
|
|
Jimmy Rushing |
1957.03.05 |
Jimmy Rushing (voc), Emmett Berry (tp), Vic Dickenson (tb), Buddy Tate (ts), Marlowe Morris (org), Clarence Johnson (p), Roy Gaines (g), Aaron Ball (b), Jo Jones (d) |
On cinemas
The song 'Dinah' is included in the soundtrack of the following movies:
|
ORIGINAL TITLE |
TITLE IN SPAIN |
YEAR OF PRODUCTION |
PERFORMERS OF THE SONG IN THE FILM |
|
Night Nurse |
Enfermeras de noche |
1931 |
|
|
Roman Scandals |
Escándalos romanos |
1933 |
Eddie Cantor (a capella) |
|
Chained |
Encadenada |
1934 |
|
|
Rose-Marie |
Rose Marie |
1936 |
Jeanette MacDonald |
|
Show Business |
Su majestad la farsa |
1944 |
Eddie Cantor, George Murphy, Constance Moore and Joan Davis |
|
Big Fish |
Big Fish |
2003 |
Bing Crosby |