"Ja-Da (Ja Da, Ja Da, Jing, Jing, Jing!)" is a hit song written in 1918 by Bob Carleton. The title is sometimes rendered simply as "Jada." The song has flourished through the decades as a jazz standard.
In his definitive American Popular Songs, Alec Wilder writes about the song's simplicity:
... It fascinates me that such a trifling tune could have settled into the public consciousness as Ja-Da has. Of course it's bone simple, and the lyric says almost nothing, except perhaps the explanation of its success lies in the lyric itself. "That's a funny little bit of melody—it's soothing and appealing to me." It's cute, it's innocent, and it's "soothing." And, wonderfully enough, the only other statement the lyric makes is "Ja-Da, Ja-Da, Ja-Da, Ja-Da, Jing, Jing, Jing."[1]
Selected renditions
Player piano roll, Vocalstyle Company, #11302. Vodvil Series, as played by Cliff Hess
Sonny Rollins 're-invented it' using the Ja-Da chords for his composition "Doxy" in 1954.[4]
Comedy rendition
In the 1970s, the tune was appropriated by the Canadian comedy duo Maclean and Maclean, who recorded it as their signature piece, with bawdy lyrics added.
^"Ja-Da" sung by Alice Faye in Rose of Washington Square (1939), audio file only, on YouTube
^First released on Burgers. Title, lyrics and some chord changes in this rendition (and the band name 'Hot Tuna') are related to a song first recorded by Blind Boy Fuller, Truckin' My Blues Away, the origin for the phrase "Keep on Truckin'". This recording reappeared on Flight Log, a 1977 compilation by Jefferson Airplane and related bands, this time with the double title "Ja Da (Keep on Truckin')". The song is credited to Carleton or, on recent releases, as "traditional" (for example, on Live in Japan). "Burgers".; "Flight Log".; "Live in Japan". allmusic. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
^Fox, Charles; McCarthy, Albert (1960). Jazz on record: a critical guide to the first 50 years, 1917-1967. Hanover Books. p. 62.
