"Let's Misbehave" is a song written by

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...

in 1927, originally intended for the female lead of his first major production, ''

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''. It was discarded before the Broadway opening in favor of " Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love". However, the star of the Broadway production,

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, performed it for a phonograph recording which was labelled as being from the production of ''Paris''. The song with partial lyrics was a notable 1928 hit for

Irving Aaronson and his Commanders Irving A. Aaronson (February 7, 1895 – March 10, 1963) was an American jazz pianist and big band leader. Aaronson's most popular song, " The Loveliest Night of the Year", was not recorded with his band but was adapted by Aaronson in 1950 fo ...

. The song was recorded earlier with partial lyrics for the Brunswick label by Scrappy Lambert and Billy Hillpot with Ben Bernie's orchestra in December 1927, and by Tom Stacks with Harry Reser's band "The Bluebirds" in January 1928. Banjo Buddy's (a.k.a. Harold Sandelman) recording in April 1928 contained full lyrics and verse. It was included perhaps most infamously in the 1962 revival of '' Anything Goes''. It was also added into the 1991 version of Porter's

You Never Know (musical) ''You Never Know'' is a musical with a book by Rowland Leigh, adapted from the original European play '' By Candlelight'', by and Karl Farkas, with music by Cole Porter and , lyrics by Cole Porter, additional lyrics by Leigh and Edwin Gilbert, ...

Subsequent appearances

* The Irving Aaronson version is used in two

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

films: at the opening and close of the 1972 film '' Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)'', and at the close of the 1994 film '' Bullets Over Broadway''. * The song is featured in a prominent dance sequence by

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awa ...

in the Steve Martin musical '' Pennies From Heaven'' (1981). * A version of "Let's Misbehave" sung by Cybill Shepherd appears in the 1975 film '' At Long Last Love'', and in the 2008 film '' Easy Virtue'', and one of the latter film's taglines. * The song is substituted for "The Gypsy in Me" in the high school drama club/amateur community theater version of ''Anything Goes'', which is also the 1962 off-Broadway version. * It is used in the closing credits of the 1984 film ''

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''. * It appears in the 1994 film '' Timecop'', in an early scene set in 1929, to which Lyle Atwood has travelled through time from 1994. * It is sung by

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in 2020, and has twice been nom ...

in the 2004 movie '' De-Lovely''. *

's original version is featured in "

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" a 2004 episode of the animated television comedy ''

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''. * "Dead Air", the 2013 season 2 finale of the Australian TV show '' Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries'' ended with a performance of their take of the song. * The Irving Aaronson version is featured in Ken Burns' 2011 PBS documentary miniseries ''

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholi ...

''. * It appeared in the 2013 film '' The Great Gatsby''. * American swing revivalists the Cherry Poppin' Daddies recorded a version of the song for their 2016 covers album ''

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''. *In season 15 episode 10 of

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("The Heroes' Journey") this song is used in a

tap dance Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perf ...

sequence featuring DJ Qualls and Jensen Ackles. * Bobby Short sang all the lyrics on his album, Saloon Singer, 2011. * An instrumental version is used in the score for the pilot episode of the animated series Hazbin Hotel to introduce Alastor, The Radio Demon.

References

Songs from High Society (1956 film) Songs written by Cole Porter Songs from Anything Goes 1927 songs {{Pop-standard-stub