"Thou Swell" is a show tune, a popular song and a jazz standard.
The music was written by Richard Rodgers, with words by Lorenz Hart, for the 1927 musical A Connecticut Yankee. There are jazz vocal renditions by Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Blossom Dearie, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams. Fats Waller and Billy May both recorded the song instrumentally.
An instrumental version was recorded in Oslo on April 29, 1954 by "Verden Rundt's" All Star Band (Rowland Greenberg (trp) - A. Skjold (trombone) - K. Stokke (alt) - K. Bergheim (tenor) - Knut Hyrum (baritone) - I. Børsum (bass) - Scott Lunde (piano) - K. O. Hoff (drums)). Arranger and conductor: Egil Monn-Iversen. It was released on the 78 rpm record Musica RA-9005. The B-side was "Perdido".
The lyric is notable, as indicated by the title, for its mix of old English and modern slang.
The music of the song is featured in the film All About Eve (1950). It is played on the piano at the party when Margo tells her friends to "fasten their seat belts".
Famous quotes containing the words thou and/or swell:
“Only add
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith;
Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love,
By name to come called charity, the soul
Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise; but shalt possess
A paradise within thee, happier far.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain—at least in a poor country like Russia—and his vanity begins to swell out like his tyres. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)