Heebie Jeebies (composition)

{{Short description|1926 single by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five}}

{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Heebie Jeebies

| cover = Heebie Jeebies.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five

| album =

| released = 1926

| format =

| recorded = February 26, 1926
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Dixieland jazz{{cite book|last=Gabriel|first=Lawrence|chapter=Louis Armstrong|editor-last=Knopper|editor-first=Steve|date=January 1, 1998|title=MusicHound Lounge: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Detroit|pages=21}}

| length = 2:52

| label = Okeh (Cat no. 9534-A)

| writer = Boyd Atkins

| producer =

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title =

| next_year =

}}

"Heebie Jeebies" is a composition written by Boyd Atkins which achieved fame when it was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1926.{{cite book |last=Larson |first=Tom |title=History and Tradition of Jazz |publisher=Kendall Hunt Publishing Company | page = 60 |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7872-7574-7}} Armstrong also performed "Heebie Jeebies" as a number at the Vendome Theatre.{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=190}} The recording on Okeh Records by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five includes a famous example of scat singing by Armstrong.{{cite news |last=Nugent |first=Addison |url= https://www.ozy.com/flashback/the-day-louis-forgot-his-lines/83441 |title=The Day Louis Forgot His Lines |work=Ozy |date=February 15, 2018 |accessdate=January 17, 2019}} After the success of the recording, an accompanying dance was choreographed and advertised by Okeh.{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=216}}

{{Listen|type=music|filename=Armstrongscat.ogg|title="Heebie Jeebies" (1926) excerpt|description=A 13-second sample of Louis Armstrong's "Heebie Jeebies" song.|pos=left|format=Ogg}}

A popular legend (apparently originating from a 1930s claim by Richard M. Jones) says that Armstrong dropped his lyric sheet while recording the song and for lack of words to sing, began to improvise his vocals and thereby created the technique of scat singing. This story, though popular, may be apocryphal. Although Armstrong did not invent scat singing, because it was already practiced by many musicians in New Orleans during the early twentieth century, Armstrong, Kid Ory, and Johnny St. Cyr confirm in their accounts that he did drop the sheet music during the session, prompting the need to improvise.{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=212–15}} Nevertheless, the inventiveness of the technique impressed many when the record first came out. Mezz Mezzrow's book Really the Blues recounts the delighted reactions of Frank Teschmacher, Bix Beiderbecke, and other musicians.{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=218}} Another notable feature of the record is the hokum coda, in which a line is delivered too early, leaving the break over which it should have been spoken completely empty.

Various other recordings of the tune followed in the 1920s and 1930s. The Boswell Sisters performed the tune on radio, record, and in the film The Big Broadcast.{{cite news |last=Reed |first=Bobby |url= https://deadline.com/2017/01/shannon-purser-sierra-burgess-is-a-loser-movie-stranger-things-1201879092/ |title=Duchess: Duchess |work=DownBeat |date=February 2015 |accessdate=January 17, 2019}} Chick Webb made a notable recording with an arrangement by Benny Carter.{{cite book |last=Giddins |first=Gary |title=Visions of Jazz: The First Century |publisher=Oxford University Press | page = 141 |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-1998-7953-3}}