All God's Chillun Got Rhythm

"All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" is a 1937 jazz standard. It was written by Walter Jurmann, Gus Kahn and Bronisław Kaper especially for Ivie Anderson, who performed it in the 1937 film A Day at the Races, a Marx Brothers production. It was shortly thereafter recorded by Judy Garland, and has since been recorded by Bud Powell, Stan Getz, Stephane Grapelli, and many others. It is sometimes recorded as an instrumental without the lyrics.

The lyrics state that "All God's Children Got Rhythm" even if they "maybe haven't got money, maybe haven't got shoes". The authors (European immigrants from Poland, Germany, and Austria) were likely influenced by a traditional Negro spiritual "All God's Chillun Got Wings" alternately called "All God's Children Got Shoes" which affirms that all God's children have shoes. This was the inspiration for a Eugene O'Neill play in the 1920s and recorded by Paul Robeson who also starred in the play.

Fats Waller recorded a song with the title of the Negro spiritual All God's Chillun Got Shoes but whose melody is that of All Got's Chillun Got Rhythm.

...
Wikipedia