Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five--"Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby"

Selected viewer comments from

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments=1&v=qROFl0sbrjo

Posted in 2008:

L3XIB3LL3- i love this song =]

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strangeromance1 - The Master!

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atbwalker- a classic, no exeptions

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lonnyt01- Great!!!! Been wondering if there was a recording of him actually singing this song.

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ragdemus- great music great vocals and lyrics.I gave it 5 stars 'cause their ain't no more.GREAT!!!

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MistyAngel1990- I like this version the most.

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Prince7580 - Who Is The Original Singer?

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nipsipone- This Is The original singer Louis Jordan

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Prince7580- Thanks

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Fredjim187 - Is this making an intentional political point by portraying black soldiers? (For those who don't know, institutional racism was a policy of the US army during WWII, so African-Americans were very much limited in terms of what they could do in military service).

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benjnh- Good point. And today the military is one of the most racially integrated parts of United States society.

A worthy addition is that the arguments used today against homosexuals serving in the military are virtually identical to those used against black people serving alongside white people way back when. Funny how history repeats...

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mizmoore99 - This is good!! I love this song. I remember this song from Tom and Jerry. I didn't know this was a recorded song.

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27andkickinit- tom and jerry the cartoon??

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inner101aggression- yes of course, the episode when Tom tries a serenade on his future x-wife :D and Jerry gets disturbred from his sleep - then hell brakes loose

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majinlogan- HAHAHA man i LOVED this in tom and jerry YEARS ago... great great song.

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kmikhael- Tom sings better ; )

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jam281977 - you stole my line tom"s version is a lil faster both are good

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yazzfest - i love this song.

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freemasonas- woo! crazy song, makes me wanna dance with my girl! :D 5 stars

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mreev- Louis Jordan, was the man, dude has mad style...

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guirexyz-I think this guy did the best job on that fun song!

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hendrixreincarnation - Look For The B.B King Version.

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JusBeCuzz - Who wrote this song?

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nipsipone- Bill Austin & Louis Jordan

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davro11234- LOVE IT OMG

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EternallyLoveless- Louie Jordan.

Man, oh man.

I love this song

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sussie5-I love this song TUNE i love it it rocks such a classic song

[Editor-In the Caribbean, and probably in some other countries, the word "Tune" or "Tune!" is said or written the same way some people in the USA would say "That's my song" or "That's my jam". Saying or writing "tune" indicates that you really like that song.]

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GETTINGYOUNGERONE- HighlandEnt - Everything is out of sinc, due to the technology used at the time.

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jinn49- thi song rocks

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sexmacfarlane - I love this! Dinah Washington's version is amazing as well.

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Posted in 2009:

thecolouredbeauty - tom and jerry lol :)

this dude is legend, right? one of the founders of RnB?

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Doooba123- the founder of the soul which eventually was to be called R&B... This guy is music history... Wow

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SartanaCartoons100- this is awesome song and video this man is absolutly one of the best in music

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txdeditor- simply a masterpiece, love these oldies (mm)

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OmiBeckett - why wasnt i alive then...

WHY?

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TheTallMan35- OmiBeckett: If you want to go back to the 40s, be my guest. I think i'll stay here in 2009 where there is no segregation, I have the right to vote, and I don't have to put up with unbelieveable amounts of racism. Good Song though.

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blurblurblur- sounds like you're a female if you ask me. it was a good era for mostly the white folks. just because every era has its faults doesn't mean it wasn't a good one.

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MaCzzang- *sigh* this is what music should be like ,but how can you tell that to a generation that is filled with trashy women and men claiming to be singing

why couldn't i have lived in that time? women never had to act and look trashy to sing ,men never had to hold guns and swear to be singers. it was a time when there was really something to sing about ,and not about being bisexual or owning guns ,flaunting money ,beating your women ,use of drugs..etc

how depressing.

thanks for the video, amazing song.

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tieseantie- @maczzang

its all well and good to be nostalgic about a time when you never existed. everything is romanticized in hindsight..

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kingny17- you're half right. there seemed to be a decent amount of gangsterism back in those days. it's just more in your face now. women slept around. people drank and did drugs. even muddy waters got a song called champagne and reefer and the people he was playing for sure dug it. lotsa songs about sex, drugs, and wanting to kill another over women or money. they just said it more subtly than say lil wayne. don't get it twisted sir

[Editor-I included the preceding six comments in this edited viewer comment thread for the thought & discussions that they might stimulate.]

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4EverLeoLover-Is this Louis Jordan singin? This song is a genuine classic.

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60syeah - Fabulous stuff !!!

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cjtoota1- Always hear this on Tom & Jerry but never knew who sung it. And he is sangin'!!

[Editor-"Sangin'" is purposeful African American vernacular slang which means "singing really well; singing with a lot of soul".]

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fountainsquad21 - great song

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jaknife5436- I'm 15 and I love this music, it isn't age, it's preferance.

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mussman717word- That's just simple beauty... I dig it so much, man.

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morgan699- Ok, this version is awesome. But I gotta say... I think Tom from Tom & Jerry sang it better. I miss the bob ba da de doo, doo, and raspy voice

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MrKingcool139764- even though this is jazzier i lik the tom and jerry version better becuz of the voice, tempo,the bop ba da de doo,etc

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NAZWAF- could anybody please tell me what is the meaning of " Is You Is Or Is You Ain't"?

i couldn't get it,, i'm not native english speaker.

five stars for this beautiful song

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Bur3bista- it means: "are you or aren't you my lover"

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NAZWAF-
ummmmm i see, but isn't that a grammatical mistake?

i mean shouldn't he has used ARE with YOU instead of IS?

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MrSw3rls- its music, it doesn't have to be proper grammar.  It's about musical flow,

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pretorious700- It's called "slang"

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dal4018- Louis Jordan THE KING OF THE JUKEBOX MAY HE RULE 4EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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queenval27- love this song!!!

comes out in tom and jerry too!!!

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Ramonerdna- thats where i knew it from i was just lookin 4 the original version

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Revitandgo - What happend to this music i grew up around it and im only 14. love the sound of the double bass in this song!

Jazz .Swing .Rockabilly .Blues

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AngeloMiguel23 - Him voice is Wonderfull and so inspiring!

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dal4018- Angelo his music inspired generations of other musicians after the 40's up to the modern era.

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MikeB4242- This is just one of those songs that is timeless. An instant favoret

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amenology- I have about five versions of this by Mr. Jordan. I have all his albums. He's GREAT! a pure legend!

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blackwind92-....Black people couldn't dance either back then, lol

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enow0049 - ooh my god, even the brothers then couldn't dance

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threeway7- @enow0049 and @blackwind92, don't think these were extras just going along with the film. These were actors who were deliberately ordered to shuck and jive off-beat and nonsensically. The director is making the statement that Black people, while lacking the intelligence to truly appreciate musical concepts like rhythm, still react with wild glee anytime they hear a beat. This is a purely theatrical portrayal. Nothing in these pictures is truth.

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TaichouInkei- @threeway7 That's true. But what let's you know the director was poor at details: The whole band and Louis are doing exactly that. Appreciating and executing musical concepts. Fail, on the director's intentions, really. Of course it would have been a bad scene if they were all playing and singing off, but still, there would be no right way to do it and still have a good scene.

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RobotPharmacy - This song sounded SO familiar to me, and I could not place it. I was kinda confused with the Tom & Jerry comments, the cartoon, really? And I found the clip and it all came back, I remember this song so well because of that cartoon.

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woodcutter048- i'm watching that episode of Tom and Jerry right now!

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Dfuq1964- @woodcutter048 Thats what u turned me onto this song! It was much more funkier in the cartoon!

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OfficialTman - Such a good song!!!!

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SlimHoop72 - lol wich year is this?

awesome song.

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nipsipone- @SlimHoop72 1944

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Keykey0414 - I know this song because my Grandfather sings it all the time. (Badly but I still love it) =)

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Gypsymojo - fantastic clip, what a great performer.

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ThaRommer- Got to give tom and jerry some respect for bringin me to this awesome song

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UrbanSoul117- @ThaRommer yes!! same here man!

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MrMudclub- The true Father of Rock n roll and the grandfather of rapThis guy had vision and a real talent.