# Is you is, or is you ain't my baby?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591 "2011-06-15T18:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/1 "2011-06-15T18:21:20Z")
Maybe baby’s found somebody new… Or is my baby, still my baby true? (Sorry, I’ve had [this in my head](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR-Ckj5M-jU) for much of this morning and felt I had to [FONT="]inflict share it with everybody else. Carry on.) [/FONT] ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/2 "2011-06-15T19:22:31Z")
Love that song. Joe Jackson did a pretty hot version of it once. Worth a listen. Not quite the original but updated nicely ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/3 "2011-06-15T19:22:45Z")
Love it! I hope you’ve seen my “take an old cold tater and wait” thread. Same deal. Or “Open the door, Richard!” ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/4 "2011-06-15T19:26:52Z")
I loved Anita Boyer’s version of it. (She’s an singer from the 40s). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/5 "2011-06-15T19:27:50Z")
This was a surprise: [Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby by Anita O’Day](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6MY--5KX24) among some other jewels. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/6 "2011-06-15T21:54:41Z")
I is ain’t your baby. Uh… you were asking a question, weren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/7 "2011-06-15T22:33:42Z")
Moving thread from MPSIMS to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/8 "2011-06-15T22:42:46Z")
My favorite version is [Dinah Washington remixed by Rae and Christian](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iItm3f6MGEY). ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/9 "2011-06-15T23:09:43Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Maybe baby’s found somebody new… Or is my baby, still my baby true? > > (Sorry, I’ve had [this in my head](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR-Ckj5M-jU) for much of this morning and felt I had to [FONT="]inflict share it with everybody else. Carry on.) > > [/FONT] That cartoon is absolutely married to that song in my head. Has been since I was a kid. The moment I read your thread title, I could see Tom plucking that bass. And once in a while, it does get stuck in my head out of the blue. Great song and great cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/10 "2011-06-16T12:53:38Z")
My mom sings this around the house sometimes. Can’t link to it, but thanks for the reminder. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/11 "2011-06-16T18:21:48Z")
That’s \*\*Louis Jordan’s \*\*song and I am pretty sure he is singing for Tom in the cartoon - sure sounds like Louis. That guy totally rocks. [Here’s his greatest hits](http://www.amazon.com/Louis-Jordan-Greatest-Hits-Verve/dp/B0000046L0)- essential to a music collection, as far as I am concerned. And here’s the first track on that CD, [Saturday Night Fish Fry](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1QfXQakX2w)- I dare you not to smile. This would’ve made a great Tom and Jerry cartoon… ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/12 "2011-06-16T21:16:50Z")
Shaddap, Tom, Jerry’s trying to sleep. (And of course the OP’s link is to that. I should’ve known. :P) ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/13 "2011-06-17T19:59:39Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > That cartoon is absolutely married to that song in my head. Has been since I was a kid. The moment I read your thread title, I could see Tom plucking that bass. And once in a while, it does get stuck in my head out of the blue. Great song and great cartoon. Yep, they’re a twin billing forever. I have always wondered if one of the only other extended speaking lines Tom has ever had was from a movie of the era I’m not familiar with? In what my now-adult ears can identify as a vaguely French accent? It’s the one where he gets inspired by a radio ad to get his very own, a-zoot, a-suit… “I… I love you. You set my soul on fire. It is not just a little spark, it is a flame! A big, roaring flame! (Jerry lights his tail on fire) I can feel it now, burning… Burning… BURNING…” _sniff sniff_ _breaks accent_ “Say, something really is burning around here!” ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/14 "2011-06-18T06:45:17Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > That’s \*\*Louis Jordan’s \*\*song and I am pretty sure he is singing for Tom in the cartoon - sure sounds like Louis. According to imdb, the singer is Buck Woods. Here is Louis Jordan performing it in the movie [Follow the Boys](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qROFl0sbrjo). Here is [Jordan performing it on record](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7M4thNT_EY). I’d like to know who played the bass for the Tom & Jerry cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby/585591/15 "2011-06-18T08:00:48Z")
I don’t think Loouis Jordan gets the credit he deserves as a pioneer in the area of recycling. After all, he re-used the same tune for “All for the Love of Lil,” “Slender, Tender and Tall” and “I Like 'em Fat Like That” (and God knows how many other tunes).