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I am referring to the 1937 version of the song.

Lead sheets say the melody starts on the first beat of the first bar (the A). And subsequent identical phrases also start on the first beat of the bar.

When trying to play along to the record, it appears to me, however, that the first note of the phrase (the A) actually falls on the "4 AND", i.e. on the final 8th note of the pickup bar (in swing timing).

Do you hear the same?

Much appreciated.

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  • This question seems to be effectively "please transcribe this recording for me", which is off-topic.
    – piiperi Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jul 20 at 18:17
  • The answers seem to interpret it more as "tell me you're deaf without telling you're deaf"
    – ojs
    Commented Jul 20 at 19:53

4 Answers 4

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I think it is most accurate to put the first note of the lick on beat 1.

However, I do believe I hear what you're talking about. To my ear, the first note is not anticipated, but rather they are not holding the last note (high A) the full duration, and instead starting the next measure a touch early. You can hear this more clearly listening to each phrase on its own, and you'll notice that each phrase is in time with itself.

If you wanted to write a fully precise transcription, you might notate those measures with the Dm arpeggio as having with a time signature of something like 15/16 (if not 31/32). That said, I believe they were playing in 4/4, and that is the most helpful time signature to write it in.

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No, it's all 'on the beat'. It's quite usual for jazz renditions to push, but here, it all is bang on the 1.

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    You sound very convincing, and I am about to defer to you. But did you try to count with the recording? The second 'A' seems to fall just before bar 3.
    – tauros_is_the_best_pokemon
    Commented Jul 16 at 16:31
  • You ask what I hear. I told you. And, yes, I did listen, several times! Lead sheets are an approximation, and a rough guide to how the tune goes. There are hundreds of different interpretations, and I guess even a single player won't play it the same every time.
    – Tim
    Commented Jul 21 at 11:58
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It starts on beat one, it is not syncopated. The only note that is syncopated is the last note of the phrase on the & of 2 of the second, fourth and sixth bars. You can hear that most of the melody notes line up perfectly with the quarter notes of the guitar and half notes of the walking bass in the last section of the song. Here is a pretty accurate lead sheet I found online:

enter image description here

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    There is no walking bass during the melody at the beginning of the song, so I doubt whether you listened at all.
    – tauros_is_the_best_pokemon
    Commented Jul 16 at 16:23
  • I did and am familiar with this song and have been played it a few times. You’re right the bass alternates with the melody with breaks at the beginning. I meant that at the end where they play the second melody which is slightly different with the addition of an extra note in each phrase on the and of 3 the bass and rhythm guitar are playing quarter notes (actually the bass switches back to a 2 beat but the guitar plays the quarters) and you can hear that the first melody notes do line up with the bass. I will edit my answer to make that distinction.
    – John Belzaguy
    Commented Jul 16 at 17:53
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    Thanks for your response. Very clever to listen to the last part of the song, where they play a slightly altered theme with rhythm backing. Here, however, they play continuous lead-up ("ghost") notes on the 4-and, which still makes the melody clearly syncopated in my view. The ghost notes are absent on the main theme, which is played with less embellishments, but the syncopation is still there. I simply cannot hear it any differently (maybe I can't count?) and your lead sheet is a good example of one where the melody is incorrectly written.
    – tauros_is_the_best_pokemon
    Commented Jul 16 at 18:34
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    @Kappie001 The lead sheet is accurate with the exclusion of the ghost notes. Most every other sheet music is at least similar to this. While the notated melody does not contain the written ghost note, it is not a syncopation but rather an anacrusis or pickup note. The emphasis is definitely on the downbeats and all of the first notes of the phrases fall on beats, not on upbeats. If it was syncopated then the notes would fall in the cracks between the rhythm guitar and bass.
    – John Belzaguy
    Commented Jul 16 at 20:00
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Jazz, when a soloist plays the melody, is seldom played literally, and it would be a very common approach to, say, play a down-beat note on the "&" of the preceding measure.

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    A very wise answer :). And yet! You didn't answer the question as to what YOU hear on the 1937 recording.
    – tauros_is_the_best_pokemon
    Commented Jul 15 at 18:22
  • @Kappie001 That's off-topic for this site.
    – Aaron
    Commented Jul 15 at 19:22

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