Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra, with vocalist Billie Holiday, saw their rendition on the charts for four weeks. Their version can be heard on Musical Romance (Billie Holiday and Lester Young). - JW

Rank 75 Words and Music Fred Ahlert Roy Turk   Ruth Etting introduced this Ahlert/Turk torch song in 1929. “Mean to Me” had on its flip side the B.G. DeSylva/Lew Brown song “Button Up Your Overcoat” (from the 1929 Broadway musical comedy about championship golf, Follow Through).     More on Ruth Etting       More on Fred Ahlert       More on Roy Turk   The record sold over a million copies and both songs hit the charts: “Mean to Me” rising to number three and “Button Up Your Overcoat” peaking at number fifteen. Also in 1929, Helen Morgan’s recording reached number eleven, and in 1937 Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra, with vocalist Billie Holiday, saw their rendition rise to number seven for four weeks. Their version can be heard on The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Vol. 4 or on the compilation CD, Musical Romance (Billie Holiday and Lester Young).   Chart information used by permission from Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954   Diana Ross sang this and other standards in the film Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and, according to Clive Hirschhorn in Hollywood Musicals, she sounded “more like Motown than Harlem.” While Ross’s version of the song may have sounded less than genuine to some, “Mean to Me” is far more convincing coming from the person to whom Lady Sings the Blues is a tribute, namely Billie Holiday. It was a staple of Holiday’s repertoire and came to symbolize the personal relationships which she brought to the song.

More information on this tune... Thomas S. Hischak The Tin Pan Alley Song Encyclopedia Greenwood Press Hardcover: 552 pages (In his encyclopedia of American song Hischak discusses the style of “Mean to Me” and lists the performers and the films in which the song has appeared.) See the Reading and Research page for this tune for additional references. - Jeremy Wilson

This section suggests definitive or otherwise significant recordings that will help jazz students get acquainted with “Mean to Me.” These recordings have been selected from the Jazz History and CD Recommendations sections.

---

Lester Young is a central figure in two definitive recordings of “Mean to Me.” Billie Holiday’s 1937 performance (The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Vol.4: 1937) features Young and is unrivaled among vocal versions of the tune. Young would later record a brilliant instrumental version of the tune with his own trio (The Lester Young Trio), featuring the brilliant piano of Nat “King” Cole piano and the understated drumming of Buddy Rich. Sarah Vaughan produced another classic version in 1950 (Sarah Vaughan in Hi-Fi) with a band featuring Budd Johnson and Miles Davis.

Noah Baerman - Jazz Pianist and Educator

“Mean to Me” has stood the test of time well and might even have been ahead of its time. In American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950, Alec Wilder says, “I find the bass line unusually inventive for 1929.”

And the lyrics are novel, using the phrase “Mean to Me” first to imply unkindness, “Why must you be mean to me?” and then concern, “Can’t you see what you mean to me?” Philip Furia comments in The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America’s Great Lyricists that “Sometimes lyricists undercut both musical and lyrical repetition by taking the standard Alley gimmick of repeating the title phrase at the beginning and end of the chorus but using it to give the phrase different meaning.” -JW

Musical analysis of “Mean to Me”
Original Key	G major with some C major and A minor tonaility in the bridge
Form	A1 – A2 – B – A3
Tonality	Primarily major
Movement	Leap down and step up through most of the song; everything else either steps or arpeggiates.
Comments     (assumed background)
Section “A” of this piece uses three different common chord progressions – I – vi7(b9) – ii7 – V7 (“Sweet Lorraine”), I –I7(V7/IV) – IV – iv (“I Got A Gal In Kalamazoo”) and I – iv – ii7 – V7 (“Blue Moon”). Section “B” starts off in major with a I - ii7 – V7 turnaround, then cleverly shifts to minor by turning the IV into a +6/V7 of the new minor key. The minor sequence goes though the i - +6(bVI7) – V7 once before turning into a II7 of the original key on its way back to the final “A” section.
K. J. McElrath - Musicologist for JazzStandards.com

The musical Dorsey Brothers--Tommy (trombone and trumpet) and Jimmy (clarinet and alto saxophone)--are featured prominently on several of the earliest jazz versions of this tune from 1929: one, by their own group (Dorsey Brothers Orchestra), then with trumpeter Phil Napoleon’s Emperors, and another accompanying vocalist Annette Hanshaw.

Some standards seem to fade in and out of popularity. No doubt Billie Holiday’s version in 1937 created some interest for a short time, but the tune takes another hiatus until it resurfaces with tenor saxophonist Lester Young’s stellar version with Nat “King” Cole and Buddy Rich in 1946.

Chris Tyle - Jazz Musician and Historian

---

The Dorsey Brothers Vol. 2 Jazz Oracle 8005 Red Nichols-Phil Napoleon 1923-1931 Epm Musique 157452 Annette Hanshaw Vol. 6, 1929 Sensation 23 Billie Holiday The Quintessential Billie Holiday Vol. 4, 1937 Sony 44252 Lester Young The Lester Young Trio Polygram Records 21650 Original recording 1946

“Mean to Me” was included in these films:

---

• Love Me or Leave Me (1955, Doris Day)
• Lady Sings the Blues (1972, Diana Ross)
• Stepping Out (1991, Liza Minnelli)
• Made (2001, Dean Martin)
• Bukowski: Born into This (2004, Diane Schuur)

And on stage:

• Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978, Nell Carter) Broadway musical
• Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1988, Nell Carter) Broadway revival
• Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1995, Anita Pointer) touring revival

And on television:

• Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1982, Nell Carter) NBC production

Comment Policy Your comments are welcome, including why you like this tune, any musical challenges it presents, or additional background information. Jazz musicians, fans, and students of all ages use this website as an educational resource. As such, off-topic, off-color, unduly negative, and patently promotional comments will be removed. Once submitted, all comments become property of JazzStandards.com. By posting, you give JazzStandards.com permission to republish or otherwise distribute your comments in any format or other medium. JazzStandards.com reserves the right to edit or remove any comments at its sole discretion.