Fascinating Rhythm


"Fascinating Rhythm" is a popular song written by George Gershwin in 1924 with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
It was first introduced by Cliff Edwards, Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire in the Broadway musical Lady Be Good. The Astaires also recorded the song on April 19, 1926 in London with George Gershwin on the piano.
Many recorded versions exist. One of the rarest recordings is one by Joe Bari for Leslie Records in 1949 and issued as catalog number 919 with "Vieni Qui" as the flip side. Having rerecorded it as a duet with Diana Krall in 2018 for their duet album Love Is Here to Stay, he currently holds the Guinness World Record for the "longest time between the release of an original recording and a re-recording of the same single by the same artist".
"Fascinating Rhythm" inspired the riff to the 1974 Deep Purple song "Burn".
The 1926 Astaire/Gershwin version and a 1938 version by Hawaiian steel guitarist Sol Hoʻopiʻi have both been added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings.

Recorded versions