Ja-Da



"Ja-Da (Ja Da, Ja Da, Jing, Jing, Jing!)" is a hit song written in 1918 by Bob Carleton. The title is sometimes rendered simply as "Jada." The song has flourished through the decades as a jazz standard.

In his definitive American Popular Songs, Alec Wilder writes about the song's simplicity:

"... It fascinates me that such a trifling tune could have settled into the public consciousness as Ja-Da has. Of course it's bone simple, and the lyric says almost nothing, except perhaps the explanation of its success lies in the lyric itself. "That's a funny little bit of melody—it's soothing and appealing to me." It's cute, it's innocent, and it's "soothing." And, wonderfully enough, the only other statement the lyric makes is "Ja-Da, Ja-Da, Ja-Da, Ja-Da, Jing, Jing, Jing.""

Selected renditions

 * Player piano roll, Vocalstyle Company, #11302. Vodvil Series, as played by Cliff Hess
 * 1918 &mdash; Original New Orleans Jazz Band
 * 1918 &mdash; Arthur Fields
 * 1938 &mdash; Tommy Ladnier and Sidney Bechet
 * 1939 &mdash; Alice Faye sings it in the musical film Rose of Washington Square (1939)
 * 1945 &mdash; Bunk Johnson and Don Ewell
 * 1947 &mdash; Frank Sinatra & Peggy Lee
 * 1947 &mdash; Muggsy Spanier
 * 1954 &mdash; Big Chief Jazzband (on the 78 rpm record His Master's Voice A.L. 3401)
 * 1955 &mdash; Marian McPartland - At the Hickory House
 * 1957 &mdash; Pee Wee Hunt
 * 1958 &mdash; Ted Heath Orchestra
 * 1961 &mdash; Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons
 * 1982, 1986, and 1987 &mdash; Musical entertainers Sharon, Lois & Bram & The Mammoth Band, recorded live and in studio
 * Al Hirt
 * Oscar Peterson
 * Erroll Garner
 * Louis Armstrong
 * Al Jarreau
 * Hot Tuna as "Keep On Truckin'"
 * Johnny and The Hurricanes
 * Bobby Hackett
 * God-des and She
 * The Fireballs, the band were singing that song, in 1966.
 * Scott Walker chorus sung in song "Psoriatic" from 2006's The Drift
 * Sonny Rollins 're-invented it' using the Ja-Da chords for his composition "Doxy" in 1954.

Comedy rendition

 * In the 1970s, the tune was appropriated by the Canadian comedy duo Maclean and Maclean, who recorded it as their signature piece, with bawdy lyrics added.