"Nice Work If You Can Get It" is a popular song and jazz standard composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
Background The song began life in 1930 as a nine-bar phrase with the working title "There's No Stopping Me Now". Its title phrase "Nice work if you can get it" came from an English magazine. It was one of nine songs the Gershwin brothers wrote for the movie A Damsel in Distress in which it was performed by Fred Astaire with backing vocals by The Stafford Sisters. The song was published in 1937.
First recordings The first jazz recording of the work was by Tommy Dorsey three weeks after the release of the film. Early chart versions were by Shep Fields, Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday, Fred Astaire (with the Ray Noble Orchestra), Maxine Sullivan, and The Andrews Sisters. The song was recorded by many jazz singers and adopted by bebop instrumentalists; Jerry Newman recorded pianist Thelonious Monk performing the tune in 1941 at Minton's Playhouse, a nightclub closely connected with early bebop, and he subsequently recorded it several times.
Other recordings Tommy Dorsey – 1937 Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson – 1937 Thelonious Monk – 1941, 1947 Art Tatum – 1949 Sarah Vaughan with Jimmy Jones music director; and Percy Faith arranger and conductor – Sarah Vaughan in Hi-Fi (1955) Mel Tormé – Mel Tormé Sings Fred Astaire (1956) Frank Sinatra – A Swingin' Affair! (1957) and Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First (1962) Erroll Garner – Erroll Garner Plays Gershwin and Kern, 1968 Ella Fitzgerald with Andre Previn – Nice Work If You Can Get It, 1983
Popular culture In the 1951 film An American in Paris, the song is performed by Georges Guétary. A version of this song was used during the opening credits of the 1995 to 1998 CBS sitcom Cybill, starring Cybill Shepherd, who performed the song. The song was included in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Crazy for You and lent its name to the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It.
See also List of 1930s jazz standards
References