Lets Call The Whole Thing Off

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off is a classic American song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Written in 1937 for the RKO musical film Shall We Dance, it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in one of the film’s most memorable sequences.

In the film, Astaire and Rogers perform the song while dancing together on roller skates. Ira Gershwin’s lyric humorously contrasts different pronunciations and preferences, turning a couple’s disagreements into a playful argument about whether their relationship should end at all.

Connection to Django Reinhardt & Manouche Jazz:
There is no known recording of Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off by Django Reinhardt. The song nevertheless belongs to the same 1930s American swing and popular-song repertoire from which many Manouche Jazz musicians draw. Its clear melody, rich harmony and strong swing potential make it easy to adapt to a guitar-and-violin setting, even though it is not part of Django’s documented recorded repertoire.

Musical character:
Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off is a lively, sophisticated swing song with a bright major-key character and a contrasting middle section. Its conversational melody reflects the back-and-forth nature of the lyric, while the harmonic structure provides plenty of room for jazz improvisation.

Interesting facts:

• The music was written by George Gershwin and the lyrics by his brother Ira Gershwin.
• The song was written for the 1937 film Shall We Dance, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
• Astaire and Rogers famously perform the song while dancing on roller skates.
• The lyric became famous for humorously contrasting different pronunciations of common English words.
• Fred Astaire made a commercial recording of the song with Johnny Green and His Orchestra in March 1937.
• Billie Holiday recorded the song on 1 April 1937.
• Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded a celebrated duet version in 1957, accompanied by Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Louie Bellson.
• The American Film Institute ranked the song No. 34 on its list of the 100 greatest songs in American cinema.
• One of the song’s most famous moments comes from Shall We Dance, where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sing and perform an elaborate synchronized dance routine on roller skates. The sequence became one of the most memorable numbers of their screen partnership.
• The song remained part of popular culture for generations. In 2010, Homer and Marge Simpson performed it in The Simpsons episode Million Dollar Maybe, more than seventy years after the original film. The series returned to the song again in 2014 with the parody Let’s Splice Some DNA, sung by Sideshow Bob and Lisa.

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off is one of the Gershwin brothers’ most recognizable songs and a classic example of sophisticated 1930s American popular songwriting. Although Django Reinhardt is not known to have recorded it, its swing character and flexible harmony make it a natural piece for jazz and Manouche-style interpretation.