Dinah

Words & Music by Joe Young, Sam M. Lewis & Harry Akst, 1925
Recorded by Bing Crosby with The Mills Brothers, 1931 (#1)*


E     E6   E          E6       Cdim  E    E6    E
Di - nah,    is there an - y - one   fi - ner

       Edim     Cdim      B7   B7/9   B7
In the state of Car - o - li - na?

        B7/9         E   Edim  F#m7        B7
If there is and you know  her, show her to me.


E     E6   E            E6       Cdim  E    E6    E
Di - nah,      with her Dix - ie eyes bla - zin'

      Edim    Cdim     B7 B7/9  B7
How I love to sit and gaze in

       B7/9    B7        E   A7   E  G#7
To the eyes of Di - nah Lee.


Bridge:

C#m            Am+7         C#m7                    
Ev' - ry night,    why do I     shake with fright?

   B7 Cdim C#m           F#7           Gdim     F#7  B7  F#m7  B7
'Cause my  Di - nah might   change her mind a - bout me.


E     E6   E        E6         Cdim  E    E6    E
Di - nah,    if she wan - der'd to  Chi - na,

       Edim   Cdim       B7  B7/9   B7
I would hop an  o - cean li - ner

       B7/9     B7        E   A  Cdim  E
Just to be with Di - nah Lee!

*Although first popularized by Ethyl Waters, who scored a #2 hit with this song in 1926, and most of a dozen other versions also charted within the next decade, and it was subsequenctly recorded hundreds of times since, the Crosby/Mills Brothers version is the only one to reach #1 -- and it was recorded then far more by chance than by design, according to information I've seen on at least one website. It states that Crosby dropped in unannounced at a Mills Brothers recording session, and the session turned into a jam session. The recording crew enjoyed the jam session version of this song so much they decided to record it - and within three weeks it had reached number one. Crosby later reprised the song in the 1932 movie "The Big Broadcast," which marked his motion picture debut.

Thanks to Montrealers Bob and Phil for the suggestion.

The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.