Published: 2019
Publisher: Print Music Source
Duration: 3:14
Grade: 3
Difficulty: Medium
"What'll I Do" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1923. It was introduced by singers Grace Moore and John Steel late in the run of Berlin's third Music Box Revue and was also included in the following year's edition. In the lyrics, the singer questions how they will recover from the end of a recent romance.
The best-known cover version was recorded by Frank Sinatra for his album All Alone (Frank Sinatra album) (1962). The song was used as a generalized theme in Nelson Riddle's Academy Award-winning period score for the film The Great Gatsby (1974) starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, sung by character actor William Atherton. It was sung by Mary Steenburgen in the movie The Butcher's Wife (1991), and was used as the theme tune to the British sitcom Birds of a Feather, performed by its lead stars Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson. An instrumental version of the song was used under the closing scene of "I Do, Adieu" (1987), the fifth-season finale of the sitcom Cheers. The Johnny Mathis version of the song was also used in the closing scene of "The Jet Set," the eleventh episode in the second season of Mad Men. The song was also performed in The Golden Girls by Bea Arthur in the episode "Journey to the Center of Attention" (1992). The song was included on Seth MacFarlane’s fifth album, Once in a While. The song was also featured in the film Mona Lisa Smile (2003). Bob Dylan covered it in his album Shadows in the Night (2015).
This new arrangement for jazz ensemble by Charles Booker, former director of the U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors. While very playable, the chart provides a straight-ahead swing style and captures Irving Berlin’s remarkable masterpiece.