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"'The Half of It, Dearie' Blues"
Song by Fred Astaire and Kathlene Martyn
Published	December 1, 1924 (1924-12-01) Harms, Inc. [1]
Released	1924 (1924)
Composer	George Gershwin
Lyricist	Ira Gershwin

"'The Half of it, Dearie' Blues" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced by Fred Astaire and Kathlene Martyn in the 1924 musical Lady be Good . ^[2]

Contents

• Recordings
• Notes
• References
• External links

In his 1959 book Lyrics on Several Occasions , Ira Gershwin noted: "Some sort of grievance is featured in the musical-comedy adaptation of The Blues as evidence here in 'The Half of It, Dearie Blues' and in the [Jerome] Kern-[Anne] Caldwell 'Left All Alone Again Blues' ^[a] —but of course in such as these the lyric approach isn't attempting to plumb the melancholy depths of the real Blues." ^[3]

Recordings

• Fred Astaire with George Gershwin at the piano - Fred Astaire - Complete London Sessions. In this first ever recording of the number, on April 19, 1926, Astaire includes a short tap-dancing section and asks Gershwin: "How's that, George," to which Gershwin replies: "That's fine, Freddy, keep going."
• Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959)

Notes

References

External links

• Original sheet music Digitized copy in the Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Sheridan Libraries and University Museums, Johns Hopkins University.

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