Take the a train

duke ellington

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2w2m1JmCY

• Billy Strayhorn was one of those people born to music and from a young age he had wanted to write classical
songs. The only problem was that, at the time, there wasn't much of an outlet for a black classical composer. So
he did what others before him had done, he turned to jazz composition.

• In late 1938, Ellington and his band play a concert in Pittsburgh. At the end of the concert, Billy plays a song of
his on the piano and Ellington is so impressed that he wants him to compose for him.

• is written in the key of C major

• As for the lyrics, they are simple couplets.

• The song began to be played on the radio as an instrumental and it was the singer Joya Sherrill who wrote the
lyrics for the first recording. After that, each singer used to adjust it a little bit to her own taste and style.

• This great song was written by Billy Strayhorn, who came up with the lyrics.

• It talks about the underground ride to Harlem in less time than it took him to get there, and he later recalled that
it was almost like writing a letter to a friend.

• the song was so good that it became the signature song of Duke Ellington and his band, and the leader of a jazz
band.

• The relationship between Strayhorn and Ellington, which began with this song, was very close and they always
maintained a close friendship.