Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby

"Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby"
Single by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five
A-side	"G.I. Jive"
Released	1944
Format	10"
Genre	Rhythm and blues
Label	Decca
Writer(s)	Billy Austin, Louis Jordan

"Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" is a 1944 Louis Jordan song, released as the B-side of a single with "G.I. Jive". "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" reached No. 1 on the US folk/country charts.^[1] The Louis Jordan recording also peaked at number two for three weeks on the pop chart and peaked at number three on the R&B charts.^[2] This was Jordan's second and last country chart No. 1, and the last No. 1 country chart topper for an African American artist until Charley Pride scored his first No.1, All I Have to Offer You (Is Me) on August 9, 1969.

It was co-written by Jordan and Billy Austin. Austin (March 6, 1896 – July 24, 1964) was a songwriter and author, born in Denver, Colorado. The phrase "is you is or is you ain't" is dialect, apparently first recorded in a 1921 story by Octavus Roy Cohen, a Jewish writer from South Carolina who wrote humorous black dialect fiction. Glenn Miller recorded this song on a radio broadcast from Europe during World War II.

Cover versions

• The song was performed by the character Tom in the 1946 Tom and Jerry episode "Solid Serenade"
• Joe Jackson performs the song on his 1981 album Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive.
• Max Cullen sings the song in the style of Billie Holiday in the 1995 film Billy's Holiday.
• A version by the JB Jazz and Blues Band featured prominently in the closing scenes of the final episode of the first series of Spaced by Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes in 1999.
• The song was used in an advertisement for credit card Access with the words changed to "does you do or does you don't take Access?"

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 184.
2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 309.