Performance: Three Little Words

Added by tsk

Performed by

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra With Vocals by The Rhythm Boys

Performance date

October 3, 1930

First performed

Comments

Date of first performance is for the New York City premiere of Check and Double Check.

The Rhythm Boys were a vocal trio of three white men, including Bing Crosby. Although their voices were used in the film, as a concession to the racism of the times in the United States, they did not appear in the film so as not to show blacks and whites performing together.

Rating

Song info

Song

Three Little Words

Music written by

Harry Ruby

Lyrics written by

Bert Kalmar

First performance

Three Little Words by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra With Vocals by The Rhythm Boys in movie Check and Double Check (October 3, 1930)

First recording

Three Little Words by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra With Vocals by The Rhythm Boys (August 26, 1930)

Language

English

Versions

	Title	Performer	Release date
1	Three Little Words	Duke Ellington and His Orchestra With Vocals by The Rhythm Boys	October 3, 1930 (performance date)
2	Three Little Words	Duke Ellington and His Orchestra With Vocals by The Rhythm Boys	1930
3	Three Little Words	Nick Lucas	1930
4	Three Little Words	The Ipana Troubadors	1930
5	Three Little Words	Ethel Waters	1930
6	Three Little Words	Frank Crumit	1931
7	Three Little Words	Seger Ellis & His Orchestra	1931
8	Three Little Words	Gene Krupa and His Chicagoans	1936
9	Three Little Words	Charlie Mariano	1954
10	Three Little Words	Jerry Wald and His Orchestra	1955
11	Three Little Words	Bud Freeman	1955
12	Three Little Words	The Jack Kelly Trio	1956
13	Three Little Words	Mel Powell	1956
14	Three Little Words	The Gerald Wiggins Trio	1957
15	Three Little Words	Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio	1958
16	Three Little Words	Johnny Guarnieri and His Group	1958
17	Three Little Words	Johnny Smith	December 1959
18	Three Little Words	Sarah Vaughan	1959
19	Three Little Words	Lou Donaldson with The 3 Sounds	1959
20	Three Little Words	Bengt Hallberg	1959
21	Three Little Words	Miss Patti Page	1960
22	Three Little Words	The Louis Cottrell Trio	1961
23	Three Little Words	Milt Jackson & John Coltrane	1961
24	Three Little Words	Al Hirt and His Band	1961
25	Three Little Words	Warren Covington and His Orchestra	1963
26	Three Little Words	Gene Ammons	1963
27	Three Little Words	Sonny Rollins & Co.	1965
28	Three Little Words	Chet Atkins	1968
29	Three Little Words	Milt Buckner and Jo Jones	1974
30	Three Little Words	The Dutch Swing College Band and Bud Freeman	1975
31	Three Little Words	George Barnes Quartet	1977
32	Three Little Words	Sun Ra	1978
33	Three Little Words	Bud Freeman & the Cees Slinger Trio	1978
34	Three Little Words	Ove Linds Sextett	1978
35	Three Little Words	Beryl Bryden, The Louisiana Dandies	1979
36	Three Little Words	Ralph Sutton Trio With the Reasonable Band	1981
37	Three Little Words	Carl Kress and George Barnes	1983
38	Three Little Words	The Art Farmer Quartet	1983
39	Three Little Words	Branford Marsalis	1989
40	Three Little Words	Don Neely's Royal Society Jazz Orchestra	1990
41	Three Little Words	John Pizzarelli	1992
42	Three Little Words	Kevin Mahogany, Kenny Barron, Ray Drummond, Lewis Nash	1993
43	Three Little Words	Dick Katz, Steve LaSpina, Ben Riley	1993
44	Three Little Words	Hal Smith's California Swing Cats	1995
45	Three Little Words	Kenny Davern and The Rhythm Men	1996
46	Three Little Words	Joe Temperley	1998
47	Three Little Words	Bucky and John Pizzarelli	February 9, 1999
48	Three Little Words	Horace Parlan	September 1999
49	Three Little Words	Jimmy Ponder, John Hicks, Don Braden, Dwayne Dolphin, Cecil Brooks III	April 11, 2000
50	Three Little Words	Howard Alden and Bucky Pizzarelli	August 12, 2003
51	Three Little Words	Jeff Healey	2004
52	Three Little Words	Kevin Mahogany	January 25, 2005
53	Three Little Words	Chet Atkins Jerry Reed & Suzy Bogguss	2011