"It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake Like That)" is a 1942 jazz and pop song recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. The song was released as an RCA 78 single by Glenn Miller in 1944. Woody Herman also released the song as a single and as a V-Disc.
The music for Glenn Miller's version was written by J.C. Chummy MacGregor and George "The Fox" Williams and the lyrics by Sunny Skylar. George Williams also arranged the song. A version was also recorded by the Army Air Force band under Glenn Miller. Sheet music was published in the U.S. by Mutual Music Society, Inc., New York, N.Y. In the UK, the sheet music was published by Chappell & Co., Ltd., London. The March 23, 1944 Woody Herman studio recording in New York featured the additional lyrics written by Sunny Skylar and sung by Woody Herman and Frances Wayne.
The expression "It must be jelly 'cause jam don't shake like that", or variations of it, was a popular slang phrase. There had been earlier songs that used a similar phrase: "It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake That Way)" by The Hipp Cats, recorded on August 13, 1938, and the 1940 song "(It Must Be Jelly 'Cos You Know) Jam Don't Shake" by Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon. The lyrics and the music, however, are completely different in all three songs.
The song was first recorded on July 15, 1942 by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra at Victor Studios, Chicago, Illinois, in a Wednesday session that lasted from 11:00 am to 3:15 pm in one take. The 1942 lyrics to the song as recorded by Glenn Miller were: "It must be jelly 'cause jam don't shake like that / It must be jelly 'cause jam don't shake like that / Oh Mama, you're so big and fat!"
The Glenn Miller civilian band played the same arrangement that was performed at least twice, available on a Victor 78 recording, Victor 20-1546-A, recorded July 15, 1942. [1] There is also a version taken from a radio remote broadcast from September 15, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts and later re-released by RCA Victor on LPT 6700.
"It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake Like That)" was the first song performed on the October 16, 1943 I Sustain the Wings radio program with the Army Air Force Band. [2]
The 78 single, Victor 20-1546, reached number twelve on the Billboard charts in January, 1944, where it stayed for eight weeks on the charts. [3] Moreover, the record was a crossover hit, reaching number two on the Billboard 'Harlem' Hit Parade Chart on February 19, 1944, the then equivalent of the later R&B chart, [4] and number sixteen on the Billboard Juke Box Chart.
An ad for the RCA Victor release appeared in the December 11, 1943 Billboard magazine. [5]
On trombones: Glenn Miller, Jimmy Priddy, Paul Tanner, Frank D’Annolfo. On trumpets: Billy May, Steve Lipkins, Dale McMickle, Johnny Best. On reeds: Lloyd “Skippy” Martin, as; Ernie Caceres, as, bar & clt; Wilbur Schwartz, clt & as; Tex Beneke, ts; Al Klink, ts. Rhythm: Chummy MacGregor, p; Bobby Hackett, g; Doc Goldberg, b; and, Maurice Purtill, d. [6]
The vocals were by The Modernaires, consisting of Ralph Brewster, Bill Conway, Hal Dickinson, Chuck Goldstein, and Paula Kelly.
Harry James, Johnny Long, Back Alley Hoodoo, and Frankie Ford also recorded versions. Woody Herman released a studio recording in 1944 on Brunswick and Decca Records in the UK as a 78 A side single, 03541, and on Coral Records in the U.S. as 60066, singing the Sunny Skylar lyrics in a duet with Frances Wayne. Ray McKinley performed the song with the New Glenn Miller Orchestra on the fourth episode of the 1961 TV series Glenn Miller Time. [7] The Jay Rayner Quartet released a live version recorded at the Zedel in London on the collection It Must be Jelly and Other Stories ... on Fane Phonics in the UK. The song also appeared on their CD collection A Night of Food and Agony. [8]
The U.S. War Department released the Woody Herman studio recording as a U.S. Army V-Disc, No. 320B, in November, 1944. The recording was the studio release featuring Woody Herman and Frances Wayne in a duet on vocals.
"In the Mood" is a popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. "In the Mood" is based on the composition "Tar Paper Stomp" by Wingy Manone. The first recording under the name "In the Mood" was released by Edgar Hayes & His Orchestra in 1938.
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra were an American swing dance band formed by Glenn Miller in 1938. Arranged around a clarinet and tenor saxophone playing melody, and three other saxophones playing harmony, the band became the most popular and commercially successful dance orchestra of the swing era and one of the greatest singles charting acts of the 20th century. As of 2024, Ray Anthony is the last surviving member of the orchestra.
"Blues in the Night" is a popular blues song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues in the Night. The song is sung in the film by William Gillespie.
"That Old Black Magic" is a 1942 popular song written by Harold Arlen (music), with the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. They wrote it for the 1942 film Star Spangled Rhythm, when it was first sung by Johnny Johnston and danced by Vera Zorina. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1943 but lost out to "You'll Never Know".
John Chalmers MacGregor, better known as Chummy MacGregor, a musician and composer, was the pianist in The Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1936 to 1942. He composed the songs "Moon Dreams", "It Must Be Jelly ", "I Sustain the Wings", "Doin' the Jive", "Sold American", "Cutesie Pie" in 1932 with Bing Crosby and Red Standex, and "Slumber Song".
"Wonderful One" is a popular song recorded by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra on January 25, 1923 in New York and was released as Victor 19019-B. The record reached no. 3 on the Billboard chart. The song was also recorded as "My Wonderful One".
Sunny Skylar was an American music composer, singer, lyricist, and music publisher, often recognized as one the most prominent songwriters of the Tin Pan Alley era. Sunny Skylar had written over 300 songs according to ASCAP, and was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2010.
"Moonlight Serenade" is an American swing ballad composed by Glenn Miller with subsequent lyrics by Mitchell Parish. It was an immediate phenomenon when released in May 1939 as an instrumental arrangement, though it had been adopted and performed as Miller's signature tune as early as 1938, even before it had been given the name "Moonlight Serenade". In 1991, Miller's recording of "Moonlight Serenade" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
"Serenade in Blue" is a 1942 big band song composed by Harry Warren, with lyrics written by Mack Gordon. It was introduced in the 1942 film Orchestra Wives by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, sung by Lynn Bari in the film but dubbed by Pat Friday.
"(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo" is a #1 popular song recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in 1942. It was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren and published in 1942. It was featured in the musical film Orchestra Wives and was recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, featuring Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton and The Modernaires, who released it as an A side 78 in 1942, 27934-A. The B side was "At Last".
Between 1938 and 1944, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra released 266 singles on the monaural ten-inch shellac 78 rpm format. Their studio output comprised a variety of musical styles inside of the Swing genre, including ballads, band chants, dance instrumentals, novelty tracks, songs adapted from motion pictures, and, as the Second World War approached, patriotic music.
"Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else but Me)" is a popular song that was made famous by Glenn Miller and by the Andrews Sisters during World War II. Its lyrics are the words of two young lovers who pledge their fidelity while one of them is away serving in the war.
"A String of Pearls" is a 1941 song recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra on RCA Bluebird that November, becoming a #1 hit. It was composed by Jerry Gray with lyrics by Eddie DeLange. The song is a big band and jazz standard.
George Dale "The Fox" Williams was a musician, composer, and an arranger for a number of major big bands, including Jimmie Lunceford, Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, Sonny Dunham, and Ray Anthony.
"Caribbean Clipper" is a big band and jump song recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra in 1942. The song was composed by Jerry Gray with lyrics by Sammy Gallop. Recorded in 1942, the song was released as a Victor 78 single by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in 1943 as the B side to "Blue Rain".
"Here We Go Again" is a swing jazz instrumental recorded by Glenn Miller. The song was released as a 78 single. It was Glenn Miller's last Top 40 hit during his lifetime, peaking at #25.
"Elmer's Tune" is a 1941 big band and jazz standard written by Elmer Albrecht, Dick Jurgens and Sammy Gallop. Glenn Miller and his Orchestra and Dick Jurgens and his Orchestra both charted with recordings of the composition.
"Juke Box Saturday Night" is a song written by Al Stillman and Paul McGrane that was recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra in 1942 on RCA Victor with vocals by Marion Hutton, Tex Beneke, and The Modernaires. The song was from the 1942 production Stars on Ice.
Up Swing is a compilation album of phonograph records released by bandleaders Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw in 1944 as a part of the Victor Musical Smart Set series. The set, a progenitor to greatest hits releases, features some of the most popular Dance Band Era recordings by the four bandleaders.