"I've Got You Under My Skin" is a song written by American composer

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

in 1936. It was introduced that year in the

Eleanor Powell Eleanor Torrey Powell (November 21, 1912 – February 11, 1982) was an American dancer and actress. Best remembered for her tap dance numbers in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s, she was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's top dancing stars durin ...

musical film ''

Born to Dance ''Born to Dance'' is a 1936 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Eleanor Powell, James Stewart and Virginia Bruce. It was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The score was composed by Cole Porter. Plot Wh ...

'' in which it was performed by

Virginia Bruce Virginia Bruce (born Helen Virginia Briggs; September 29, 1910 – February 24, 1982) was an American actress and singer. Early life Bruce was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As an infant she moved with her parents, Earil and Margaret Briggs, ...

. It was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...

that year but lost out to "

The Way You Look Tonight "The Way You Look To-night" is a song from the film '' Swing Time'' that was performed by Fred Astaire and composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics written by Dorothy Fields. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. Fields remarked, ...

". Popular recordings in 1936 were by

Ray Noble Raymond Stanley Noble (17 December 1903 – 3 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United S ...

and his Orchestra (vocal by

Al Bowlly Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1899 – 17 April 1941) was a South African-British vocalist, crooner, and dance band guitarist who was Britain's most popular singer for most of the 1930s. He recorded upwards of 1,000 songs that were listened ...

) and by

Hal Kemp James Hal Kemp (March 27, 1904 – December 21, 1940) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, composer, and arranger. Biography Hal Kemp was born in Marion, Alabama. He formed his first band in high school, and by the ...

and his Orchestra (vocal by Skinnay Ennis). The song has subsequently been recorded by hundreds of artists. It became a

signature song A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, handwritten or styliz ...

for

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

, and, in 1966, became a top-10 hit for The Four Seasons. Swedish singer-songwriter

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, rapper, occasional disc jockey, and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a numb ...

had a European hit with her reworking of the song for the 1990 ''

Red Hot + Blue Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

'' charity album.

Charts

Weekly charts

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (; December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he ...

and

Keely Smith Dorothy Jacqueline Keely (March 9, 1928The reference work ''The Encyclopedia of Native Music: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet'' gives Smith's date of birth as March 9, 1932. – December 16, 2017), professio ...

The Four Seasons

Year-end charts

The Four Seasons

Versions by Frank Sinatra

Sinatra first sang the song in 1946 on his weekly radio show, as the second part of a medley with "Easy to Love". He recorded a studio version of the song with

Nelson Riddle Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many vocalists at Capitol Records, including ...

's orchestral arrangement, accompanied by Irv Cottler on drums and slide trombone solo by Milt Bernhart at Capitol's Melrose Avenue studios for his 1956 album '' Songs for Swingin' Lovers!'' Other musicians on the album included George Roberts (bass trombone) and

Harry "Sweets" Edison Harry "Sweets" Edison (October 10, 1915 – July 27, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. His most important contribution was as a Hollywood studio musician, whose muted trumpet can be heard backi ...

(trumpet), along with various uncredited musicians for the remaining instrumentation (five saxophones, two more trombones, three more trumpets, double bass, two acoustic guitars, and 16 orchestral string instruments). The session was produced by Voyle Gilmore and engineered by John Palladino; Gilmore also later produced The Four Seasons' version of the song. Riddle was a fan of

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

and said that this arrangement was inspired by the ''

Boléro ''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. It is one of Ravel's most famous compositions. It was also one of his last completed works before illness diminished his ability to write music. Composition T ...

''. Sinatra aficionados usually rank this as one of his finest collaborations with Riddle's orchestra. Sinatra re-recorded "I've Got You Under My Skin" for the album ''

Sinatra's Sinatra ''Sinatra's Sinatra'' is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1963. Ten of the album's twelve tracks are re-recorded versions of songs that Sinatra had previously released, with "Pocketful of Miracles" and "Call Me Irresponsib ...

'' (1963), an album of re-recordings of his favourites. This time the trombone solo was by Dick Nash because Bernhart was unavailable. A live version of the song appears on the 1966 album '' Sinatra at the Sands'' with Count Basie and his orchestra. Another version of the song is an electronically assembled duet featuring Sinatra and U2 lead singer

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

on Sinatra's 1993 '' Duets'' album. The track was released on a "

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

" with U2's "

Stay (Faraway, So Close!) "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the fifth track on their eighth album, ''Zooropa'' (1993), and it was released as the album's third single on 22 November 1993, by Island Records. The song reached number one ...

". The single peaked at number four on the UK charts. Sinatra usually included "I've Got You Under My Skin" in his concerts, a tradition carried on by his son, Frank Sinatra Jr. The song would be used for the opening of the 2015 game, Batman: Arkham Knight.

Certifications and sales

Neneh Cherry version

Swedish singer-songwriter and rapper

's interpretation of "I've Got You Under My Skin" was released as the lead single for the ''

'' charity album in September 1990 and reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart. Additionally, it was a top-10 hit in Greece and entered the top 20 in the Netherlands and Sweden. It received critical acclaim from music critics. The accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was directed by

Jean-Baptiste Mondino Jean-Baptiste Mondino (born Aubervilliers, France on 21 July 1949) is a French fashion photographer and music video director. He has directed music videos for Madonna (entertainer), Madonna, David Bowie, Sting (musician), Sting, Björk, Don Henley, ...

. Cherry replaced most of the lyrics with a rap on

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

victims and how society reacts to them. Of the original Cole Porter lyrics, she kept only the first four lines and "Use your mentality, wake up to reality".

Critical reception

William Ruhlmann from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described the song as one of the most "radical reinterpretations" on ''

''. David Browne from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' felt the words have special urgency in Cherry's "stark, bass-line-propelled take" on "I’ve Got You Under My Skin", because the song begins with a rap about

. Paul Lester from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' wrote that it's "pretty much unrecognisable from the original tinkly-suave piano nugget loved by pub singers and talent show chancers the world over." He explained, "Neneh's version starts with a rap, leads into a rubbery " White Lines" bass squiggle, before steel thwacks and programmed claps enclose the song in a glistening metal case. Not bad." Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' called it an "utterly brooding version of the old

song, in a splendid production for the

Jungle Brothers Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop trio composed of Michael Small (Mike Gee), Nathaniel Hall (Afrika Baby Bam) and Sammy Burwell (DJ Sammy B). Hailed as pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hip-hop g ...

' Baby Afrika Bambaataa." Nick Robinson from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' stated, "With its dark atmosphere and subject matter, it's grim but effective." Gavin Martin from ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

'' wrote, "Her provocative revision ..not only reaffirms her status as the straightest, sharpest shooting soul sister on the block but matches sensitivity with invective in an elegant, mysterious refrain." Parry Gettelman from the ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

'' found that the singer "eerily deconstructs "I've Got You Under My Skin" and injects it with a

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

safe-sex message." James Hunter from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' remarked that the "genuine innovations" of Cherry set the tone of the album. Marc Andrews from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' felt the track "is the closest any of the artists here get to really putting the message across". Chris Norris from ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' complimented the singer-songwriter's "chillingly metaphorical" version of the jazz standard.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin" Piano Solo
{{authority control 1936 songs 1966 singles Capitol Records singles Frank Sinatra songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Neneh Cherry songs Philips Records singles Song recordings produced by Bob Crewe Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer) Songs written by Cole Porter Songs written for films The Four Seasons (band) songs Song recordings produced by Cameron McVey Song recordings produced by Jonny Dollar Screamin' Jay Hawkins songs Music videos directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino