Mr. Five by Five

"Mr. Five by Five" is a 1942 popular song by Don Raye and Gene DePaul that describes a heavyset man who is "five feet tall and five feet wide". The person highlighted by the song was Jimmy Rushing, "Mr. Five by Five", who was the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.

The song was introduced in the motion pictures Behind the Eight Ball and Who Done It?, both of which were 1942 Universal Pictures releases.

Ella Mae Morse with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra [1] had a hit recording with the song in 1942, which went to number one on the Harlem Hit Parade chart (Capitol 115), for two non consecutive weeks, as did Harry James and His Orchestra also issued a best-selling platter on the Columbia label that year.

Also performed by:

• Harmony Sisters, Thore Ehrling's Orchestra. Recorded in Stockholm on August 31, 1943. Released on the 78 rpm records Telefunken A-5359 in Sweden and Telefunken T-8508 in Norway. The A side was I'm Coming Home, Virginia
• Harry Parry on Crazy Rhythm, Harry Parry's Radio Rhythm Club Sextet/
• The Humphrey Lyttelton Big Band with Jimmy Rushing, Upbeat (URCD174)/
• Jimmy Rushing on Rushing Lullabies, Columbia/Legacy 1959/
• Andrews Sisters
• Imelda May on the soundtrack to the 2013 film Gangster Squad

It was also the origin of several small bits on radio comedy shows of the period, including on the Jack Benny and Fred Allen programs.

See also

• List of number-one R&B singles of 1942 (U.S.)