Fascinating Rhythm

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Song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin performed by Cliff Edwards

title: "Fascinating Rhythm" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["songs-with-music-by-george-gershwin", "songs-with-lyrics-by-ira-gershwin", "fred-astaire-songs", "caterina-valente-songs", "1924-songs", "songs-from-lady,-be-good-(musical)", "united-states-national-recording-registry-recordings"] description: "Song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin performed by Cliff Edwards" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascinating_Rhythm" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin performed by Cliff Edwards ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

FieldValue
nameFascinating Rhythm
coverFascinating Rhythm Fred Astaire label.jpg
altOriginal record label
artistFred Astaire and Adele Astaire with George Gershwin
publishedHarms, Inc.
releasedJune 1926
recordedApril 19, 1926
studioLondon, UK
labelColumbia DB 3968
composerGeorge Gershwin
lyricistIra Gershwin
::

| name = Fascinating Rhythm | cover = Fascinating Rhythm Fred Astaire label.jpg | alt = Original record label | type = | artist = Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire with George Gershwin | album = | EP = | written = | published = Harms, Inc. | released = June 1926 | format = | recorded = April 19, 1926 | studio = London, UK | venue = | genre = | length = | label = Columbia DB 3968 | writer = | composer = George Gershwin | lyricist = Ira Gershwin | producer = | prev_title = | prev_year = | title = | next_title = | next_year = | prev_track = | track_no = | next_track = "Fascinating Rhythm" is a popular song written by George Gershwin in 1924 with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.

It was first introduced by Cliff Edwards, Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire in the Broadway musical Lady Be Good.{{cite book | last = Billman | first = Larry | title = Fred Astaire - A Bio-bibliography | publisher = Greenwood Press | year = 1997 | location = Connecticut | pages = 57,235 | isbn = 0-313-29010-5 }} The Astaires also recorded the song on April 19, 1926, in London with George Gershwin on the piano (English Columbia 3968 or 8969).

The song provided the music for a famous dance sequence by Eleanor Powell in the movie Lady Be Good.

Many recorded versions exist. One of the rarest recordings is by Joe Bari (a pseudonym of Anthony Dominick Benedetto, later better known as Tony Bennett) for Leslie Records in 1949 and issued as catalog number 919 with "Vieni Qui" as the flip side. Having rerecorded it as a duet with Diana Krall in 2018 for their duet album Love Is Here to Stay, he currently holds the Guinness World Record for the "longest time between the release of an original recording and a re-recording of the same single by the same artist".

"Fascinating Rhythm" inspired the riff to the 1974 Deep Purple song "Burn".

The 1926 Astaire/Gershwin version and a 1938 version by Hawaiian steel guitarist Sol Hoʻopiʻi have both been added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings.

Recorded versions

References

References

  1. Library of Congress. Copyright Office.. (1924). "Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1924 Musical Compositions New Series Vol 19 Part 3". U.S. Govt. Print. Off..
  2. (13 September 2018). "Tony Bennett Just Locked Down a Very Obscure Guinness Record".
  3. "Finding Tony Bennett's First Recording".
  4. (2015). "The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time: A Guide to the Legends Who Rocked the World". ABC_CLIO.
  5. (May 24, 2012). "The National Recording Registry 2011". [[Library of Congress]].
  6. "Tony Bennett & Diana Krall on Gershwin Duets Album 'Love Is Here to Stay' & Their Mutual Admiration".
  7. "Cover versions of Fascinating Rhythm written by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin {{!}} SecondHandSongs".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

songs-with-music-by-george-gershwinsongs-with-lyrics-by-ira-gershwinfred-astaire-songscaterina-valente-songs1924-songssongs-from-lady,-be-good-(musical)united-states-national-recording-registry-recordings