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Take The A TrainTake the 'A' Train is a jazz song by Billy Strayhorn, referring to the subway service that runs through New York City, going at that time from eastern Brooklyn up into Harlem and northern Manhattan, using the express tracks in Manhattan. It became the signature tune of Duke Ellington and often opened the shows of Ella Fitzgerald, and is regarded as a jazz standard. Strayhorn composed the piece while a yong man in Pittsburgh. He introduced the song to Ellington after he succeeded in making his way to Ellington's dressing room when Ellington was appearing in Pittsburgh, then showing Ellington how he would have arranged Ellington's own song "Sophisticated Lady", then performing "Take the 'A' Train" for him. Ellington was so impressed that he called the rest of the band in one at a time to hear Strayhorn, then hired him on the spot, to begin work in several weeks when Ellington returned to New York. The song combines the propulsive swing of the 1940s-era Ellington band with the confident sophistication of Ellington and the black elite who inhabited Sugar Hill in Harlem. The tune is in AABA form, in the key of C, with each section being a lyric couplet. Over the years the lyrics have contained many variations, as is not unusual for songs of this era. Those below are representative only, and may not be the origanal Strayhorn lyrics. -
- You must take the "A" train
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- To get to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem
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- If you miss the "A" train
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- You'll find you missed the quickest way to Harlem
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- Hurry, get on board it's coming
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- Listen to those rails a-humming (All Board!)
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- Get on the "A" train
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- Soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem
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