"The Lady Is a Tramp" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms, in which it was introduced by former child, star Mitzi Green. This song is a spoof of New York high society and its strict etiquette (the first line of the verse is "I get too hungry for dinner at eight...") and phony social pretensions. It has become a popular music standard. Early recordings from 1937 include one by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (featuring Edythe Wright on vocals), Midge Williams and Her Jazz Jesters, Sophie Tucker, and Bernie Cummins on the Vocalion records label (#3714). Lena Horne recorded the song with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Orchestra on March 30, 1948. Her performance appeared in the film Words and Music, a fictionalized biography of the partnership of Rodgers and Hart. The song was also used in the film version of Pal Joey starring Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth. Joey Evans (Sinatra) sings the song to Vera Simpson (Hayworth) as he tries to entice the wealthy widow Simpson into financing Evans's dream of owning his own night club. It was recorded by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Greco (whose version updates the lyrics to include several 1950s pop-culture references), Bing Crosby (for his radio shows) and Pat Suzuki in the 1950s, and Shirley Bassey in the 1960s, becoming a signature song for Sinatra. He sang the song with new lyrics as "The Gentleman Is a Champ" at tribute events for Spiro Agnew and Orson Welles, also recording a new version under the pseudonym Frankie Alvert titled "Maureen Is a Champ" for Ringo Starr's wife Maureen Starkey; never commercially released.
"The Lady Is a Tramp" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms, in which it was introduced by former child, star Mitzi Green. This song is a spoof of New York high society and its strict etiquette (the first line of the verse is "I get too hungry for dinner at eight...") and phony social pretensions. It has become a popular music standard.
Early recordings from 1937 include one by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (featuring Edythe Wright on vocals), Midge Williams and Her Jazz Jesters, Sophie Tucker, and Bernie Cummins on the Vocalion records label (#3714). Lena Horne recorded the song with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Orchestra on March 30, 1948. Her performance appeared in the film Words and Music, a fictionalized biography of the partnership of Rodgers and Hart.
The song was also used in the film version of Pal Joey starring Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth. Joey Evans (Sinatra) sings the song to Vera Simpson (Hayworth) as he tries to entice the wealthy widow Simpson into financing Evans's dream of owning his own night club.
It was recorded by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Greco (whose version updates the lyrics to include several 1950s pop-culture references), Bing Crosby (for his radio shows) and Pat Suzuki in the 1950s, and Shirley Bassey in the 1960s, becoming a signature song for Sinatra. He sang the song with new lyrics as "The Gentleman Is a Champ" at tribute events for Spiro Agnew and Orson Welles, also recording a new version under the pseudonym Frankie Alvert titled "Maureen Is a Champ" for Ringo Starr's wife Maureen Starkey; never commercially released.