Ja-Da

"Ja-Da (Ja Da, Ja Da, Jing, Jing, Jing!)" is a hit song written in 1918 by Bob Carleton. The title is sometimes rendered simply as "Jada." The song has flourished through the decades as a jazz standard.

In his definitive American Popular Songs, Alec Wilder writes about the song's simplicity:

Selected renditions Player piano roll, Vocalstyle Company, #11302. Vodvil Series, as played by Cliff Hess 1918 — Original New Orleans Jazz Band 1918 — Arthur Fields 1938 — Tommy Ladnier and Sidney Bechet 1939 — Alice Faye sings it in the musical film Rose of Washington Square (1939)"Ja-Da" sung by Alice Faye in Rose of Washington Square (1939), audio file only, on YouTube 1945 — Bunk Johnson and Don Ewell 1947 — Frank Sinatra & Peggy Lee 1947 — Muggsy Spanier 1954 — Big Chief Jazzband (on the 78 rpm record His Master's Voice A.L. 3401) 1955 — Marian McPartland - At the Hickory House 1957 — Pee Wee Hunt 1958 — Ted Heath Orchestra 1961 — Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons 1966 — The Fireballs 1982, 1986, and 1987 — Musical entertainers Sharon, Lois & Bram & The Mammoth Band, recorded live and in studio Al Hirt Oscar Peterson Erroll Garner Louis Armstrong Al Jarreau Hot Tuna as "Keep On Truckin'" Johnny and The Hurricanes Bobby Hackett God-des and She Scott Walker chorus sung in song "Psoriatic" from 2006's The Drift Sonny Rollins 're-invented it' using the Ja-Da chords for his composition "Doxy" in 1954.

Comedy rendition In the 1970s, the tune was appropriated by the Canadian comedy duo Maclean and Maclean, who recorded it as their signature piece, with bawdy lyrics added.

In popular culture In Jack Finney's 1995 novel From Time to Time, the time-traveling protagonist recalls a childhood memory of his aunt dressing up in her old flapper costume and dancing the Charleston to "Ja-Da," singing its playful refrain "Jotta, jotta, jink-jink-jing." [sic] He associates the tune with a stylish young woman he meets in 1912, whom he calls "the Jotta Girl," a character who later becomes central to the novel’s plot. (The reference is anachronistic, as "Ja-Da" was not composed until 1918.)

See also List of jazz contrafacts List of pre-1920 jazz standards

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