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Mr. Five by Five

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Wikipedia article




"'Mr. Five by Five'" is a 1942 popular song by Don Raye and Gene DePaul, that describes a heavyset man who is "five feet tall and five feet wide". The person highlighted by the song was Jimmy Rushing, "Mr. Five by Five", who was the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.

Ella Mae Morse with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra had a hit recording with the song in 1942, which went to number one on the Harlem Hit Parade chart (Capitol 115), for two non consecutive weeks,

Other versions



"Mr. Five by Five" has also performed by:

*Later in 1942, Harry James and His Orchestra (vocal by Helen Forrest) who also issued a best-selling platter on the Columbia label that year. The song appeared on 'Variety's' 10 Best Sellers on Coin Machines list in December 1942.

*Harmony Sisters, Thore Ehrling's Orchestra. Recorded in Stockholm on August 31, 1943. Released on the 78 rpm records Telefunken A-5359 in Sweden and Telefunken T-8508 in Norway. The A side was "I'm Coming Home, Virginia".

*Harry Parry on 'Crazy Rhythm', recorded by Harry Parry's Radio Rhythm Club Sextet.

*The Humphrey Lyttelton Big Band with Jimmy Rushing, Upbeat (URCD174)

*The Andrews Sisters recorded the song on July 22, 1942 for Decca Records (catalog No. DECCA-18470B). This reached No. 14 in the Billboard chart.

*Imelda May on the soundtrack to the 2013 film, 'Gangster Squad'.

Song in popular culture



*The song was introduced in the motion pictures 'Behind the Eight Ball' (when it was performed by Grace McDonald) and 'Who Done It?', both of which were 1942 Universal Pictures releases.

*It was also the origin of several small bits on radio comedy shows of the period, including on the Jack Benny and Fred Allen programs.

*The Morse and Slack version is featured in the soundtrack of the 2018 video game, 'Fallout 76'.

See also



*List of 'Billboard' number-one R&B singles of the 1940s

References



Category:1942 songs

Category:Jazz songs

Category:Songs with music by Gene de Paul

Category:Songs written by Don Raye

Category:Ella Mae Morse songs

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