All the Things You Are
original show tune composed by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; from the 1939 musical "Very Warm for May"
"All the Things You Are" is a song composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. The song was written for the musical Very Warm for May (1939) and was introduced by Hiram Sherman, Frances Mercer, Hollace Shaw, and Ralph Stuart. It appeared in the film Broadway Rhythm (1944) when it was sung by Ginny Simms, and again in the Kern biopic Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), sung by Tony Martin.
Popular recordings of the song in 1939 were by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (vocal by Jack Leonard), Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (vocal by Helen Forrest) and Frankie Masters and His Orchestra (vocal by Harlan Rogers). The song has been recorded by many artists and is considered a jazz standard.
Form and harmony
The chorus has become a favorite with many jazz musicians. The chorus is a 36-measure AA2BA3 form with two twists on the usual 32-bar AABA song-form: A2 transposes the initial A section down a fourth, while the final A3 section adds an extra four bars.
Note: The harmonic analysis demonstrates a functional chord progression using the circle of fifths. This type of progression generally relies on the roots of the chords being a 4th apart. Taking the main key of measures 1 to 5 as A-flat major, the chords can be considered as vi–ii–V–I–IV in A-flat major. (Fm7 is the sixth degree in A♭; B♭m7 is second degree in A♭, etc.) Using a delay cycle, D♭ being the tritone substitution for G7, the last 3 bars of the A section modulates to the key of C major temporarily.
The public source identifies “All the Things You Are” as original show tune composed by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; from the 1939 musical "Very Warm for May". This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Things, original and show.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “All the Things You Are”, the useful work is to connect “original show tune composed by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; from the 1939 musical "Very Warm for May"” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1410072. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939, 1944 and 1946.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “All the Things You Are”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow All the Things You Are primary sources, All the Things You Are archive and Things research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “All the Things You Are”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “All the Things You Are” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.