# Help me pick an up-tempo jazz standard! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-an-up-tempo-jazz-standard/495291 "2009-05-04T15:32:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-an-up-tempo-jazz-standard/495291/21 "2009-05-04T19:26:39Z")
OK . . . Orange-Colored Sky You Make Me Feel So Young I Was a Little Too Lonely (And You Were a Little Too Late) I Know That You Know ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-an-up-tempo-jazz-standard/495291/22 "2009-05-04T19:50:19Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Frim Fram Sauce is nice, if you can carry it off. > There’s an old Ella number called Doin’ the Uptown Lowdown that is fun. > Everything I’ve Got (Belongs To You), which I think is Rodgers & Hart, also fun, and good lyrics for a woman. You’ll find the title of that last one is _I’ve Got Five Dollars._ _Frim Fram_ is really medium tempo. _Uptown Lowdown_ has unPC lyrics and isn’t performed any longer. Like I said, this is a tough niche. ---
**Author:** ![PerditaX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@PerditaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerditaX)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-an-up-tempo-jazz-standard/495291/23 "2009-05-04T21:08:15Z")
_I’m Beginning to See the Light Great Day Blue Skies Nice Work if You Can Get It_ Can you see I’m a fan of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn? I’m an alto myself. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-an-up-tempo-jazz-standard/495291/24 "2009-05-05T15:05:46Z")
Before I went to my workshop last night I bought and printed the sheet music to “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” and I played through the melody on the piano in the room (I only knew the melody to the title phrase), but during the actual session I worked on my ballad. During the actual session I also picked a song that – oddly enough – hasn’t been mentioned in this thread yet: “It’s Only A Paper Moon.” One of the other women sang it during our first session, and it’s been stuck in the back of my mind since then, but I thought it was taken: last night I noticed that she hadn’t done it again, so I asked if she was planning to use it as one of her 3 songs, and she said no. I haven’t sung it before, and I don’t even have any recordings of it (yet), so I might get to class next week and decide that I sound horrible on it, but I’m pretty sure that will be my other up-tempo song. Making my set list thus: 1. It’s Only A Paper Moon 2. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most 3. Built For Comfort FWIW, “Frim Fram Sauce” is up-tempo enough for our purposes, but one of the other women picked it already. As if just picking three songs wasn’t hard enough, we each also have 5 other people picking songs! I can’t thank you guys enough for your suggestions and for helping me think this stuff through. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-an-up-tempo-jazz-standard/495291.md?page=1)