THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

295-Art Shaw and his Orchestra-Begin The Beguine.

1938-Has never charted in the UK.There was no UK chart until 1952.

Best Bit-At 2.29. The songs author Cole Porter christened the dance that is performed to this song, he called it ‘The Beguine.’

Artie Shaw was born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky on May 23rd, 1910, in New York City, United States, he died on December 30th, 2004, having been in ill health for sometime. The specific cause of death was never made public, but he had been a long term sufferer from diabetes, he was 94. Shaw who is probably best remembered as one of Jazz’s finest clarinetists, was one of the United States most popular band leaders in the late 1930’s, through to the early 1940’s.Between 1936-1946, he had 44 songs chart on Billboard, with four reaching the Number 1 spot, including ‘Begin The Beguine,’

Although having been successful prior to recording ‘Begin The Beguine’ it was that song which propelled Artie Shaw to stardom. Shaw soon grew tired of of playing ‘mainstream’ music, and was keen to experiment, his blending of Jazz and Classical music, was later coined in 1957 by the American composer Gunther Schuller (1925-2015) as ‘Third Stream’ music. Shaw grew tired of being a major celebrity, and professional musician, and completely retired from music in 1954. He once said that he got sick of having to play ‘Begin The Beguine’ 500 times a year.

Cole Porter (1891-1964) (see also best songs 944-655 and 73) wrote the music and the lyrics to ‘Begin The Beguine’ during a 1935 Pacific cruise between Kalabahi, Indonesia, and Fiji. It was first performed in October 1935 by the American actress June Knight (1913-1987) in the Broadway Musical ‘Jubilee,’ but didn’t become a major hit until Artie Shaw rearranged it, and recorded it in 1938. Cole Porter got the idea for the song, and invented the word ‘Beguine’ after watching people perform a dance he had never seen before which was similar to a ‘Rhumba.’

Like many songs on this countdown ‘Begin The Beguin’ has been recorded numerous times by many of the worlds top artists down the decades. The song featured in the 1940 musical film ‘Broadway Melody of 1940,’ with Fred Astaire (see also best songs 385) and Eleanor Powell dancing to it, with a Flamenco choreography. Frank Sinatra (see also best songs 877-567-469-120 and 73) took his version of the song to Number 23 on Billboard in 1946, and Ella Fitzgerald (see also best songs 944-702-286-231 and 100) included the song on her ‘Verve’ release ‘Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook’ in 1956.

The most successful charting version in the UK was the recording by Julio Iglesias who made Number 1 in 1981. Apart from the opening line which is sung in English, the rest of the song is sung in Spanish. Iglesias wrote new lyrics, and the music was based on a Disco version recorded by Johnny Mathis (see also best songs 706) in 1979. When Julio Iglesias took his version to Number 1 it became the first Spanish language song to top the chart, and Iglesias became only the second Spanish artist to reach Number 1, the first being ‘Baccara’ in 1997 with ‘Yes Sir I Can Boogie.’