The band is depicted performing in a railroad passenger car, not a subway car.īased loosely on the chordal structure of " Exactly Like You", the song combines the propulsive swing of the 1940s-era Ellington band with the confident sophistication of Ellington and the black elite who inhabited Sugar Hill in Harlem. The song was performed by Ellington and the band in the 1943 film Reveille with Beverly with vocalist Betty Roche. Nance is also responsible for the trumpet solo on the first recording, which was so well suited for the song that it has often been duplicated note for note by others. The vocalist who most often performed the song with the Ellington band was trumpeter Ray Nance, who enhanced the lyrics with numerous choruses of scat singing. Owing to Joya's remarkable poise and singing ability and her unique take on the song, Ellington hired her as a vocalist and adopted her lyrics. Her father, a noted Detroit activist, set up a meeting with Ellington. She made up the words at her home in Detroit, while the song played on the radio. The lyrics used by the Ellington band were added by Joya Sherrill, who was 20 at the time (1944). "One day, I was thinking about his style, the way he wrote for trumpets, trombones and saxophones, and I thought I would try something like that," Strayhorn recalled in Stanley Dance's The World Of Duke Ellington.Īlthough Strayhorn said he wrote lyrics for it, the recorded first lyrics were composed by, or for, the Delta Rhythm Boys. Strayhorn was a great fan of Fletcher Henderson's arrangements. Ellington wrote directions for Strayhorn to get to his house by subway, directions that began, "Take the A Train". "Take the 'A' Train" was composed in 1939, after Ellington offered Strayhorn a job in his organization and gave him money to travel from Pittsburgh to New York City. The title refers to the then-new A subway service that runs through New York City, going at that time from eastern Brooklyn, on the Fulton Street Line opened in 1936, up into Harlem and northern Manhattan, using the Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan opened in 1932. The first (and most famous) commercial recording was made on February 15, 1941. The song was first recorded on Januas a standard transcription for radio broadcast. Mercer recalled that he found the composition in a trash can after Strayhorn discarded a draft of it because it sounded too much like a Fletcher Henderson arrangement. "'A' Train" was one of many tunes written by Strayhorn, and was picked to replace "Sepia Panorama" as the band's signature song. Ellington turned to Billy Strayhorn and son Mercer Ellington, who were registered with ASCAP competitor BMI to "write a whole new book for the band," Mercer recalled. When ASCAP raised its licensing fees for broadcast use, many ASCAP members, including Ellington, could no longer play their compositions over radio, as most music was played live on radio at the time. Choose whether viewers can see how many likes are on your video.The use of the Strayhorn composition as the signature tune was made necessary by a ruling in 1940 by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ( ASCAP). Select the category of your video, such as education or comedy.Ĭhoose whether viewers can leave comments on the video. Indicate if you’d like to send notifications to your subscribers for your new video.Īllow others to create Shorts using the audio of your video. Select if your video can be embedded on a different website. Otherwise, tags play a minimal role in your video's discovery.Ĭhoose the original video language and caption certification.Įnter the date the video was recorded and the location where your video was filmed. Tags can be useful if the content of your video is commonly misspelled. You can create your own video chapters or use the automatically generated chapters by checking the 'Allow automatic chapters (when available and eligible)' checkbox.Īny video chapters entered will override auto generated video chapters.Īdd descriptive keywords to help correct search mistakes. You can add video chapter titles and timestamps to your videos to make them easier to watch. Let viewers and YouTube know that your video has a paid promotion. To comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), you’re required to tell us whether your videos are made for kids.Īge-restrict videos that may not be appropriate for all audiences.Īt the bottom of the Details page, select SHOW MORE to choose your advanced settings. The image viewers will see before clicking your video.Īdd your video to one of your existing playlists, or create a playlist. For video attributions, use the following format: