"Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" is a song written by

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as " the King of the Jukebox", he earned his high ...

and Billy Austin. The song's first recording, by Jordan, was made on October 4, 1943. It was released as the B-side of a single with "

G.I. Jive "G.I. Jive" is a 1944 song written and originally performed by Johnny Mercer. Background Mercer intended to write a song that the soldiers would like, and the song was the biggest hit of all the songs dealing with soldier life during World War I ...

" with the title "Is You Is or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)". The song reached No. 1 on the US folk/country charts, number two for three weeks on the pop chart, and number three on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

One publication of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

provided this summary of Jordan's music.

One important stylistic prototype in the development of R&B was jump blues, pioneered by Louis Jordan, with ... His Tympany Five ... three horns and a rhythm section, while stylistically his music melded elements of swing and blues, incorporating the shuffle rhythm, boogie-woogie bass lines, and short horn patterns or riffs. The songs featured the use of African American vernacular language, humor, and vocal call-and-response sections between Jordan and the band. Jordan’s music appealed to both African American and white audiences, and he had broad success with hit songs like "Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby" (1944).

In the 1932 American film '' Harlem Is Heaven'', dancer

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Bill Robinson, nicknamed Bojangles (born Luther Robinson; May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949), was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid African-American entertainer in the United States during the f ...

, accompanied by jazz pianist

Putney Dandridge Louis "Putney" Dandridge (January 13, 1902 – February 15, 1946) was an American jazz pianist and singer. Career Born in Richmond, Virginia, United States, Dandridge began performing in 1918 as a pianist in a revue entitled ''The Drake and Wal ...

, sings "Is You Is or Is You Ain't." The song in the film has different lyrics, but, in addition to its title, its melody is at times similar to that later used for "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby.""Harlem is Heaven – Bill Robinson, Eubie Blake, 1932 Film"
posted by Alan Eichler, February 14, 2016

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. Retrieved January 29, 2018. Bill Robinson and Putney Dandridge's performance of "Is You Is or Is You Ain't" begins in the noted copy of ''Harlem Is Heaven'' at the 40:15 mark in the film's presentation.

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

and

The Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (July 6, 1911 – May 8, 1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (January ...

recorded the song on June 30, 1944 for Decca Records and it too reached the No. 2 spot in the Billboard charts during a 12-week stay. The song was covered by Ira "Buck" Woods as

Tom Cat Thomas Jasper "Tom" Cat Sr. is a fictional character and one of the two titular main protagonists (the other being Jerry Mouse) in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of ''Tom and Jerry'' theatrical animated short films. Created by William Hanna and J ...

in the 1946

Tom & Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

short ''

Solid Serenade ''Solid Serenade'' is a 1946 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 26th ''Tom and Jerry'' short, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on August 31, 1946 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. It was produced by Fred Quimby, directed by William Hanna ...

'', which is what the song is mainly known for. More recently it was performed in an episode of ''

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' is an American period comedy-drama television series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, that premiered on March 17, 2017, on Amazon Prime Video. Set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it stars Rachel Brosnahan as ...

'' by

Sterling K. Brown Sterling Kelby Brown (born April 5, 1976) is an American actor. He has portrayed Christopher Darden in the FX limited series '' The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story'' (2016) and stars as Randall Pearson in the NBC drama series '' ...

. It has also been performed by the

swing revival The swing revival, also called retro swing and neo-swing, was a renewed interest in swing music, beginning around 1989 and reaching a peak from the early/mid to late 1990s. The music was generally rooted in the big bands of the swing era of the ...

band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Other cover versions

The famous rhythm and blues standard has been recorded by more than 130 different artists over the years. The most notable versions include: *

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

performed the song several times in radio broadcasts. *

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

recorded it 1956 together with

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

and his Orchestra. * Joe Jackson covered it on his album ''Jumpin' Jive'' (1981). *

B. B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

and

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from ...

covered it on '' Let the Good Times Roll'', King's

tribute album; the song won the 2001

Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality pop songs on which singers co ...

. *

Anita O'Day Anita Belle Colton (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006), known professionally as Anita O'Day, was an American jazz singer and self proclaimed “song stylist” widely admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band app ...

's rendition of the song opens the film ''

Shortbus ''Shortbus'' is a 2006 American erotic comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. The plot revolves around a sexually diverse ensemble of colorful characters trying desperately to connect in an early 2000s New York City. T ...

'' (2006), by John Cameron Mitchell.

References

1944 songs Louis Jordan songs Songs written by Louis Jordan Cab Calloway songs {{Blues-song-stub