"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:
“How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If any mention was made of homicide, madness, adultery, and intolerable tortures, we would let the church-bells ring louder, the church-organ swell its peal and drown the hideous sound. The sugar they raised was excellent: nobody tasted blood in it.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)