Cole Porter, music and lyrics · From the MGM film Born to Dance · On record from 1936
I've Got You Under My Skin
Cole Porter wrote this love song in 1936 for the MGM film Born to Dance. Its tune covers a very wide range and leaves players room to try their own under it. You can hear it from Ray Noble, Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, Sonny Rollins and Bill Evans with Jim Hall.
Listen in this order
Eight versions follow the song from a 1936 dance-band hit through small-group jazz in 1950 and 1954 to Frank Sinatra's 1956 record, a long live tenor saxophone trio and a quiet piano and guitar duet. Each step gives one thing to listen for and one thing to try.
Dinah Washington with Clifford Brown and Max Roach1954 · Bebop
Frank Sinatra1956 · Swing
Sonny Rollins Trio1957 · Hard bop
1960sBill Evans and Jim Hall1966 · Post-bop
Progress can't be saved in this browser.
Step 1 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard
Hear the 1936 dance-band hit
Ray Noble and His Orchestra (vocal Al Bowlly) · 1936
Victor 25422
Ray Noble's orchestra recorded the song on September 25, 1936, with Al Bowlly singing, and Victor issued it as Victor 25422. According to Classic Jazz Standards, it reached number 3 on the charts by December 1936.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
A dance orchestra plays behind a male singer, and the whole record is 2:58 long. Keep this short, plain version in mind and compare it with the longer ones later on.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first 16 as a slow loop, one per bar: 7 (), , , , four times, and hum the tune over it. If that is too much, loop the first four bars only.
Stan Getz's quartet recorded this in New York on January 6, 1950, with Al Haig on piano, Tommy Potter on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. It first came out on the Birdland label as Birdland 6001.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Getz plays the tune high on the tenor saxophone at the start. Al Haig takes a piano solo, and Getz comes back for a swinging last .
Try it on your instrument
Play the short move to in the second section: , , and Cmaj7 in 25 to 28, then back to and . Smaller version: play just those four bars, one each.
The Red Norvo Trio recorded this in Chicago on October 13, 1950, with Tal Farlow on guitar and Charles Mingus on bass. Discovery issued it as a single, Discovery 144, in 1951.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
A weaving two-line figure alternates with the tune and with solos, and Mingus keeps a steady bass underneath. The record is only 2:24 long.
Try it on your instrument
Play the third section (bars 33 to 40) twice: , , , , then Fm7, B♭7sus, E♭maj7, . Smaller version: play only the Fm7 and B♭7sus bars and hum the tune.
Charlie Parker's quintet recorded this in New York on March 31, 1954, with Roy Haynes on drums. It came out on the Verve album Charlie Parker Plays Cole Porter in 1957.
mixed
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
The opens with a Latin-sounding introduction, then the band settles into a straight-ahead swing. Parker plays the tune first and then improvises.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last section ( 41 to 56) from the top: , , , , twice, then , , , . Smaller version: play just bars 41 to 44 on a loop.
Dinah Washington with Clifford Brown and Max Roach · 1954 · Bebop, Vocal
Dinah Jams
Dinah Washington sang this on August 14, 1954, in Los Angeles with Clifford Brown, Maynard Ferguson and Clark Terry on trumpets and Max Roach on drums. It came out on the EmArcy album Dinah Jams in 1955.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Three trumpets and a of piano, bass and Max Roach on drums play behind the singer. At 5:26 this is longer than any version before it on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Count the four sections out loud while the record plays: A for 16 , B for 16, C for 8 and D for 16, 56 bars in all. Smaller version: count only the 8-bar third section.
Frank Sinatra recorded Nelson Riddle's arrangement on January 12, 1956, for Songs for Swingin' Lovers! Riddle said the arrangement took its idea from Ravel's Boléro.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
The orchestra builds in rising waves behind the singer. Milt Bernhart plays a slide trombone solo in the middle, with Irv Cottler on drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last two sections ( 33 to 56) as one long build: start quietly at bar 33 and get a little louder every four bars until bar 52. Smaller version: do the build on the last 16 bars only.
Sonny Rollins recorded this live at the Village Vanguard in an afternoon set on November 3, 1957, with Donald Bailey on bass and Pete La Roca on drums. Blue Note first issued it in 1975, on More From The Vanguard.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Only a tenor saxophone, a bass and drums play, for nearly ten minutes, so the saxophone carries the whole performance. The tempo is brighter than on the earlier versions.
Try it on your instrument
Play a bass line through the first section: four quarter notes a bar on notes from , , and . Smaller version: play only the root of each on beat one.
Bill Evans and Jim Hall recorded this as a duet at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey on May 10, 1966, for the Verve album Intermodulation.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Only a piano and a guitar play, so each line is easy to follow. Listen for which of the two carries the tune at the start and how the other answers it.
Try it on your instrument
Split the jobs: play the of 1 to 16 with your left hand, one per bar, and the tune with your right. Smaller version: play the chords alone while you sing the tune.
Cole Porter writes the song for the 1936 MGM film Born to Dance. Ray Noble's orchestra records it with singer Al Bowlly in September 1936, and it reaches number 3 on the charts by December.
1940s
Frank Sinatra first sings the song in 1946 on his weekly radio show. Artie Shaw's orchestra records it that June with Mel Tormé and the Meltones.
1950s
Charlie Parker plays it with a quintet in 1954. Frank Sinatra records Nelson Riddle's arrangement in January 1956, and Sonny Rollins plays it with bass and drums at the Village Vanguard in 1957.
1960s
Bill Evans and Jim Hall record it as a piano and guitar duet at Van Gelder Studio in May 1966, for the album Intermodulation.
1990s
Neneh Cherry reworks it for the 1990 benefit album Red Hot + Blue, and her version is the album's lead single in the UK and Europe. Frank Sinatra sings it again with Bono on his 1993 album Duets.
More great versions
5 more, from 1946 to 1993. Tap a cover to play it here.
1940sArtie Shaw1946
1950sOscar Peterson Trio1952 · Bebop
Peggy Lee1953
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990sNeneh Cherry1990
Frank Sinatra and Bono1993 · Easy listening
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (with Mel Tormé and the Meltones)
1946
Complete Jazz Series 1946-1950
Artie Shaw's orchestra recorded the song in 1946 with Mel Tormé and the Meltones featured.
Oscar Peterson's trio, with Barney Kessel on guitar and Ray Brown on bass, recorded this in Los Angeles in early December 1952. It came out on Oscar Peterson Plays Cole Porter in 1953.
Neneh Cherry reworked the song for the 1990 benefit album Red Hot + Blue. It was the album's lead single in the UK and Europe and reached No. 25 on the UK chart.
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
56 barsA · B · C · D form
E♭ → C → E♭key centers
A16 bars
B16 bars
C8 bars
D16 bars
E♭
C
E♭
The is 56 long, much longer than most standards, and has four sections. A (bars 1 to 16) runs one four-bar pattern of , , and four times. B (bars 17 to 32) starts the same way, then in bars 25 to 28 visits with , and before it returns to E♭. C (bars 33 to 40) is eight bars of Fm7, , E♭maj7 and , with in the last bar leading into D. D (bars 41 to 56) begins on and plays its four-bar pattern of Cm7, Fm7, B♭7 and E♭maj7 twice, then goes through , , and . The last four bars run , C7, Fm7 and B♭7 and settle on .