# can someone help me identify this genre of music?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-identify-this-genre-of-music/126769>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 3, 2002, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-identify-this-genre-of-music/126769 "2002-09-03T07:06:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Deadly\_Nightlight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Deadly\_Nightlight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deadly_Nightlight)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-identify-this-genre-of-music/126769/1 "2002-09-03T07:06:52Z")

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it may not be the same genre of music at all, but here are a few examples

ella Fitzgerald- putting on the ritz, I’ve got rhythem, a tisket a tasket

Vic Fontaine- its only a paper moon

Andrews sisters(sp?) Boogie woogie bugle boy

the style of music is great but i can’t place it. Is it swing? Big band? All my mom could tell me was it was “uso show” music which was not very helpful

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**Author:** ![Deadly\_Nightlight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Deadly\_Nightlight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deadly_Nightlight)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-identify-this-genre-of-music/126769/2 "2002-09-03T07:09:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Deadly Nightlight \*  
> **I’ve got rhythem**

rhythm:smack:

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**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-identify-this-genre-of-music/126769/3 "2002-09-03T09:33:18Z")

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It’s like, uh, old music or something.

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**Author:** ![bunnymom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@bunnymom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunnymom)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-identify-this-genre-of-music/126769/4 "2002-09-03T10:05:49Z")

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Wouldn’t songs like those be considered “swing”?

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**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-identify-this-genre-of-music/126769/5 "2002-09-03T11:25:43Z")

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Puttin’ on the Ritz and I’ve Got Rhythm would generally be considered somewhere between Broadway show tunes and jazz; Puttin’ on the Ritz is by Irving Berlin and I’ve Got Rhythm by George Gershwin who both wrote many of their songs in a very mainstream version of the jazz idiom for white audiences. This tradition of songwriting is also sometimes called Tin Pan Alley, after the place in New York where they worked. The Andrews Sisters are big band jazz/swing. The whole lot could be fairly called pre-1950s popular music in a more general label.

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**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-identify-this-genre-of-music/126769/6 "2002-09-03T14:09:49Z")

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I agree with refusal. Also, a lot of them are often referred to as “standards” or “standard tunes”.