They All Laughed (song)

"They All Laughed" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, written for the 1937 film Shall We Dance where it was introduced by Ginger Rogers as part of a song and dance routine with Fred Astaire. The lyrics compare those who "laughed at me, wanting you" with those who laughed at some of history's famous scientific and industrial pioneers, asking, "Who's got the last laugh now?" People and advances mentioned are Christopher Columbus's alleged proof the earth is round; Thomas Edison's phonograph; Guglielmo Marconi's wireless telegraphy; the Wright brothers's first flight; the Rockefeller Center; Eli Whitney's cotton gin; Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat; Milton S. Hershey's Hershey bar chocolate; and Henry Ford's "Tin Lizzy" Model T car.

Notable recordings

• Fred Astaire (1937)
• Chet Baker
• Bing Crosby on his 1956 album "Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings."
• Eric Dolphy
• Bobby Darin recorded a version with the laugh of George Burns on his 1964Winners album.
• Johnny Dankworth — Too Cool For The Blues (2010)
• Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong — Ella and Louis Again (1957)
• Ella Fitzgerald — Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959)
• Yehudi Menuhin & Stéphane Grappelli — Menuhin & Grappelli Play Gershwin (1988)
• Stacey Kent — Let Yourself Go (2000)
• Susannah McCorkle — Someone to Watch Over Me—Songs of George Gershwin (1998)
• Frank Sinatra — Trilogy: Past Present Future (1980)
• Dick Van Dyke
• Sarah Vaughan — Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin (1958)
• Elaine Stritch — Accompanied on piano by Oscar Peterson London (1977)
• Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett on Cheek to Cheek (2014)