Swing period piece by Benny Goodman Orchestra. Two main versions. The first, appearing in many sub-versions, is about eight minutes long. The second, emerging at the Carnegie Hall performance was over twelve minutes long. Jess Stacy's piano solo suddenly happened, drawing together Riverboat stride, the Moonlight Sonata, and Swing.

The best song to swing dance to. When I hear the first few notes all that matters in the world is dancing, right THEN, to that song. It sustains a pace that lets you spin at what feels like 80 mph on a curvy, two-lane road. (It helps if you happen to be on or near a floor with other people dancing but it doesn't matter, really, as long as you have space, and it helps if your dance partner is with you at the time). Several people have said they like to watch me and my dance partner during Sing Sing Sing because we go so fast. I'm surprised one of us hasn't spun off and killed a spectator. Okay, I did spin off once and land on the floor, spraining my amkle, but no spectators were harmed. Anyway.

(NB: We do not confuse swing dancing with extreme sports. We happen to freak out during this song, but we've also danced with the American Legion folks at the strange mosque hall in midtown Atlanta).

You have almost certainly heard this song. It is a very common piece of background and advertising music, generally used to evoke a mood that is raucous, but without the drugs, violence, and edginess we associate with out-of-control parties of the modern era. It's simultaneously headbanging and sort of quaint, due to the fact that it was written before most listeners were born.

The most widely-distributed use of this song is probably the Chips Ahoy! commercial with the bouncing cookies.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.