It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
E124100
"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is a landmark 1931 jazz standard by Duke Ellington that helped define the swing era and popularize the concept of swing in jazz music.
All labels observed (7)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1070223 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) Context triple: [Duke Ellington, notableWork, It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)]
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A.
I Got Rhythm
"I Got Rhythm" is a popular jazz standard composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, renowned for its catchy melody and influential chord progression widely used in jazz improvisation.
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B.
I Get a Kick Out of You
"I Get a Kick Out of You" is a classic popular song from the 1934 Broadway musical *Anything Goes*, renowned for its witty lyrics and enduring status as a jazz and pop standard.
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C.
Hey Joe
"Hey Joe" is a rock standard most famously recorded by Jimi Hendrix, known for its haunting narrative about a man on the run and its iconic guitar work.
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D.
Jazz Goes to Town
Jazz Goes to Town is an annual jazz music festival held in Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic, featuring a wide range of local and international jazz performers.
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E.
Slave to the Rhythm
"Slave to the Rhythm" is a 1985 art-pop concept album and hit title track by Grace Jones, noted for its innovative production, rhythmic experimentation, and fusion of pop, funk, and avant-garde styles.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) Target entity description: "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is a landmark 1931 jazz standard by Duke Ellington that helped define the swing era and popularize the concept of swing in jazz music.
-
A.
I Got Rhythm
"I Got Rhythm" is a popular jazz standard composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, renowned for its catchy melody and influential chord progression widely used in jazz improvisation.
-
B.
I Get a Kick Out of You
"I Get a Kick Out of You" is a classic popular song from the 1934 Broadway musical *Anything Goes*, renowned for its witty lyrics and enduring status as a jazz and pop standard.
-
C.
Hey Joe
"Hey Joe" is a rock standard most famously recorded by Jimi Hendrix, known for its haunting narrative about a man on the run and its iconic guitar work.
-
D.
Jazz Goes to Town
Jazz Goes to Town is an annual jazz music festival held in Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic, featuring a wide range of local and international jazz performers.
-
E.
Slave to the Rhythm
"Slave to the Rhythm" is a 1985 art-pop concept album and hit title track by Grace Jones, noted for its innovative production, rhythmic experimentation, and fusion of pop, funk, and avant-garde styles.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
jazz standard
ⓘ
song ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
It Don't Mean a Thing
ⓘ
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing!) ⓘ |
| associatedWith | Duke Ellington Orchestra ⓘ |
| composer | Duke Ellington ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| culturalStatus |
jazz classic
ⓘ
landmark swing composition ⓘ |
| famousLine | It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing ⓘ |
| firstRecordingYear | 1932 ⓘ |
| genre |
jazz
ⓘ
swing ⓘ |
| hasBeenRecordedBy |
Duke Ellington
ⓘ
Ella Fitzgerald ⓘ Lady Ella and Duke Ellington ⓘ
linked to:
Duke Ellington
Lady Gaga ⓘ Louis Armstrong ⓘ Nina Simone ⓘ Sarah Vaughan ⓘ Thelonious Monk ⓘ Tony Bennett ⓘ |
| hasSubject | swing rhythm in jazz ⓘ |
| helpedDefine | swing era ⓘ |
| helpedPopularizeConcept | swing in jazz ⓘ |
| includedIn |
The Great American Songbook
ⓘ
linked to:
Great American Songbook
|
| influenced | development of swing music ⓘ |
| isStandardIn |
big band repertoire
ⓘ
jazz repertoire ⓘ |
| keyInManyPerformances | G minor ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| lyricist | Irving Mills ⓘ |
| musicalForm | 32-bar song form ⓘ |
| notableFeature |
call-and-response between vocals and band
ⓘ
emphasis on rhythmic swing feel ⓘ use of scat singing in many versions ⓘ |
| originalArtist |
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
ⓘ
linked to:
Duke Ellington Orchestra
|
| performanceContext |
big band concerts
ⓘ
jazz club performances ⓘ vocal jazz recitals ⓘ |
| period | early swing era ⓘ |
| recordLabel | Brunswick Records ⓘ |
| section |
chorus
ⓘ
verse ⓘ |
| theme | importance of swing feel over other musical elements ⓘ |
| typicalTempo | medium-fast ⓘ |
| vocalistOnEarlyRecording | Ivie Anderson ⓘ |
| yearComposed | 1931 ⓘ |
| yearPublished | 1931 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) Description of subject: "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is a landmark 1931 jazz standard by Duke Ellington that helped define the swing era and popularize the concept of swing in jazz music.
Referenced by (14)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
→
alsoKnownAs
→
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing!)
ⓘ
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
→
famousLine
→
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing
ⓘ
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
subject linked to:
Duke
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra
→
notableWork
→
It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)
ⓘ
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
subject linked to:
Ellington
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
linked to: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)