Cole Porter, music and lyrics · Introduced by Ethel Merman in the Broadway musical Anything Goes, 1934
I Get a Kick Out of You
Cole Porter wrote it for the 1934 Broadway musical Anything Goes, where Ethel Merman first sang it. Singers and horn players both take it, and the middle section gives them somewhere new to go. Hear it from Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong and Dave Brubeck.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Ethel Merman's record from the show that introduced the song. It then moves between singers and instrumental groups, from Frank Sinatra in 1953 to Dave Brubeck's quartet in 1966.
Ethel Merman with Johnny Green and His Orchestra · 1934
Brunswick single
Ethel Merman sang the song in the 1934 Broadway show Anything Goes. She recorded it with Johnny Green and His Orchestra for Brunswick on December 4, 1934.
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Listen for
Ethel Merman sings out front with Johnny Green's orchestra behind her. Listen to how the words carry the song, because this is the singer who introduced it on stage.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four as a loop: , , , . Then play all 16 bars of the first section slowly while you hum the tune.
Frank Sinatra recorded it on November 6, 1953 for Songs for Young Lovers, with George Siravo's arrangement and Nelson Riddle conducting. He sings the song's original second , the one the 1936 film version had to rewrite.
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Listen for
One singer takes the tune once through in 2:55, with the band kept behind his voice. Follow the words and the tune together, and notice how little the arrangement crowds him.
Try it on your instrument
Sing the tune over the first eight of : , , , , then the same four again. Keep the chords soft so the voice stays in front, as it does on the record.
Ella Fitzgerald recorded it in Los Angeles on February 9, 1956 with Buddy Bregman's arrangement. It is on the Cole Porter Song Book, the first album Verve released and the first of her song book series.
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Listen for
Ella Fitzgerald sings with Buddy Bregman's orchestra, and the record runs 4:02, more than a minute longer than Sinatra's. Listen to how each word lands, and to how the middle section contrasts with the opening.
Try it on your instrument
Learn the middle section (the ) from the chart. Start with twice, then and for two each, and finish with , , Gm7♭5, C7♭9, and . Short version: play only the first four bars, B♭m7 E♭7 B♭m7 E♭7.
“I Get a Kick Out of You (take 7, master)”, Charlie Parker Plays Cole Porter
Charlie Parker recorded it with a quintet at Fine Sound in New York on March 31, 1954, trying several takes before the master. Verve put it out in 1957 on Charlie Parker Plays Cole Porter.
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Listen for
Charlie Parker's alto saxophone carries the tune, with no voice on the record. The quintet has a guitar as well as piano, bass and drums, and the whole take lasts 3:34.
Try it on your instrument
If you can solo over changes, play one using only the notes of each for the first 16 (, , , , and so on). Smaller version: play just the root and the third of each chord, one chord per bar.
Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet · 1954 · Hard bop
Brown and Roach Incorporated
Clifford Brown and Max Roach recorded it with Harold Land, Richie Powell and George Morrow on August 5, 1954 in Los Angeles, and it came out in 1955 on Brown and Roach Incorporated. At 7:38 it is more than twice as long as Parker's take.
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Listen for
Clifford Brown's trumpet and Harold Land's tenor saxophone lead the band over Richie Powell's piano, George Morrow's bass and Max Roach's drums. At 7:38 there is room for the soloists to play several rounds of the tune's changes.
Try it on your instrument
Count the sections along with the record. The opening (, , ) mark the top of each , so you should hear them come back again and again. Aim to follow one full 64-bar without losing your place.
Louis Armstrong with Oscar Peterson · 1957 · Vocal
Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson
Louis Armstrong recorded it in Los Angeles on July 31, 1957 with Oscar Peterson's group. It is on the album Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson, produced by Norman Granz.
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Listen for
Louis Armstrong's voice leads, with Oscar Peterson's piano, Herb Ellis's guitar, Ray Brown's bass and Louis Bellson's drums behind him. It runs 4:17, close to Ella's version, so compare how the two singers pace the same words.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first section with a friend: one person plays the (, , , and on) while the other sings or plays the tune. Swap parts and play it again.
Anita O'Day recorded it in April 1959 at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles, with Billy May arranging, for an album of Cole Porter songs on Verve produced by Norman Granz.
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Listen for
Anita O'Day sings it through in under two and a half minutes, the shortest record on the path. Compare how much happens in that time with the 7:38 of the Brown and Roach quintet.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first 16 along with the record. If it is too quick for your instrument, sing or hum with it and clap the first beat of each bar instead.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Cole Porter: Anything Goes!
Dave Brubeck's quartet recorded it in New York on February 17, 1966 for an album of Cole Porter songs, released in 1967 as Anything Goes!, with Paul Desmond on alto saxophone and Teo Macero producing.
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Listen for
Paul Desmond's alto saxophone and Dave Brubeck's piano share the front, with Gene Wright's bass and Joe Morello's drums keeping time. Try to tell who has the lead at each point in the 5:16.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole chart once: 64 , in four 16-bar sections (A, A, B, A). Then loop just the , B♭m7 E♭7 and on, until you can play it without looking.
Cole Porter writes the song for the Broadway musical Anything Goes. Paul Whiteman's orchestra, with Ramona singing, cuts it in October 1934, and Ethel Merman, who sang it in the show, records it for Brunswick in December.
1950s
Frank Sinatra records it for Songs for Young Lovers and Ella Fitzgerald for her Cole Porter Song Book. Charlie Parker plays it with a quintet that includes a guitar.
1960s
Dave Brubeck's quartet, with Paul Desmond on alto saxophone, plays it in New York in 1966 for an album of Cole Porter songs.
2000s
Jamie Cullum records it for his album Twentysomething in London in 2003, with an arrangement by Geoff Gascoyne.
2010s
Pianist Harold Mabern plays it on To Love and Be Loved in 2017, with Eric Alexander on tenor saxophone and Jimmy Cobb on drums.
More great versions
3 more, from 1956 to 2017. Tap a cover to play it here.
Sonny Criss played it on alto saxophone with a vibraphone in the group, at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles on August 26, 1956, for his album of Cole Porter tunes on Imperial.
Pianist Harold Mabern plays it with tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist Nat Reeves and drummer Jimmy Cobb on his 2017 album To Love and Be Loved for Smoke Sessions.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
E♭ majorusual key
64 barsA · A · B · A form
E♭ major → A♭ major → F minor → E♭ majorkey centers
A16 bars
A16 bars
B16 bars · bridge
A16 bars
E♭
A♭
F m
E♭
iReal Pro's chart runs 64 in four 16-bar sections: A, A, B (the ) and A. Each A opens with , , and , played twice, then Fm7, B♭7, and C7♭9, then Fm7 and B♭7. The first A closes with and Gm7 C7♭9 to lead back to the repeat; the second closes on E♭6 for two bars before the bridge, and the last A ends on the Gm7 C7♭9 turn. The bridge starts on and twice, moves to Gm7♭5 and C7♭9 for two bars each, then plays , , Gm7♭5 and C7♭9, holds for two bars and returns with Fm7 and B♭7.