"Ain't Misbehavin'" is a 1929 song written by Fats Waller, Harry Brooks (music) and Andy Razaf (lyrics). Waller recorded the original version that year for Victor Records and also later performed the song in the 1943 film Stormy Weather. In a 1941 interview with Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Fats claimed the song was written while "lodging" in alimony prison, and that is why he was not "misbehaving".
There were six other recordings of the song released in 1929, including versions by Louis Armstrong, Ruth Etting, Gene Austin, and Leo Reisman and His Orchestra. It was also used in the off-Broadway musical Connie's Hot Chocolates.[citation needed]
It has been recorded by many other performers over the years, including Anita O'Day, Sarah Vaughan (for "Sarah Vaughan in Hi-Fi"; 1950), Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Django Reinhardt, Miles Davis, Kay Starr, Frankie Laine, Art Tatum, Floyd Pepper, Sonny Stitt, Sam Cooke, Johnnie Ray, Sidney Bechet, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Elkie Brooks, Eyran Katsenelenbogen, Willie Nelson, Kermit Ruffins, Leon Redbone, Dave Brubeck, and Bill Haley & His Comets (who recorded a rock and roll version in 1957). Johnnie Ray's version reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1956.[2] In 1960, Tommy Bruce and the Bruisers had a number 3 hit in the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of the song.[3] Leon Redbone performed the song on Saturday Night Live in 1976. It served as the title song of the successful 1978 musical Ain't Misbehavin'.
The original 1929 recording of "Ain't Misbehavin'" by Fats Waller received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1984, and it was one of fifty recordings selected for inclusion in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2004.
In 2001, it was one of 365 Songs of the Century selected by the RIAA.