In which I get schooled on the greatness of Dave Brubeck and his “Take Five”

My brother-in-law really likes jazz, and I’ve sometimes said in his hearing that I don’t particularly care for it as it seems formless, repetitive and tuneless to me. This comment has been received about as well as you’d expect.

But sometimes I get shoved into examining music that I think I don’t like. Such has been the case with the works of Dave Brubeck, in particular his monster hit “Take Five,” which my choir, the Cherry Creek Chorale, is performing in the choral version that includes lyrics by Iola Brubeck, Dave’s wife, with an arrangement by the prolific Kirby Shaw. A full examination of Brubeck’s career is totally beyond the scope of this post; I encourage you to follow the footnoted sources at the end of this post if you want to do some further reading.

Ho-kay. Brubeck’s origin story is truly fascinating, so let me take at least a dip into that before moving on to the piece at hand. Brubeck did the piano-lessons-at-age-four routine, but his family moved to a 45,000-acre ranch in California when Dave was 12 and he got roped into working there. His two older brothers were on track to become professional musicians due to his mother’s influence and training; his cattleman father insisted to his wife that “’this one is mine,” referring to Dave. Thus Brubeck moved from the piano bench to the saddle, but music still fascinated him:

Dave vaccinated and branded the cattle, chopped wood, and spent most of his day riding horses. Ironically, it was riding horseback that inspired Dave to think in a polyrhythmic jazz style. The steady gait of the horse would provide one rhythm and Dave would invent another rhythm to play against that. So even as Dave happily pursued life as a ranch hand, the music flowed inside his head.¹

Even as the young Brubeck spent his days in the saddle, he got involved in performing music, first at local elementary schools and then at various “honky-tonks.” (He was 16 by that time, so I guess it was okay.) If he arrived home in the early-morning hours after these gigs, his father would be waiting for him with a list of jobs to do, saying, “’Take off that damn tuxedo and put on your overalls. I need you.” And off Dave would go. We’ll hope that he was able to get some sleep in the saddle.

After high school Brubeck’s mother wanted him to go to college, while his dad of course wanted him to stay and work on the ranch. They compromised by sending their son to a local college in Stockton; he started out planning to study veterinary medicine but quickly got sucked back into music. He also met his wife, Iola, who later said:

At the time we were married, Dave was in the army and he said to me “I don’t know what the future is going to be like at all, but I promise you one thing, you will never be bored.” And he’s kept his promise.²

It was Iola who came up with the idea of giving performances on college campuses, a move that expanded the audience for Brubeck’s music considerably.

I could go on and on about Brubeck’s career, but I’d better get to “Take Five,” the ostensible subject of this post. By the time it was written in 1959 the Dave Brubeck Quartet had become very popular, so much so that the US State Department sent the group on a tour of Eurasian countries to give them a taste of American culture. Brubeck enjoyed the exposure to other musical forms and decided to do a whole album using some of the unusual rhythms he’d gotten to know on the trip. In addition, his drummer Joe Morello liked to play in 5/4, often ending shows with a drum solo using that time signature. (It’s not clear to me why Morello liked that rhythm so much.) Anyway, Morello kept asking Brubeck to compose something in 5/4, and finally another member of the group, saxophonist Paul Desmond, came up with a couple of themes that he thought would work. While Desmond is therefore usually given sole credit for the music, Brubeck himself was very clear about his own input:

Desmond is credited with composing “Take Five,” but Brubeck says the tune was a group project with Desmond providing two main ideas.

“Paul came in with two themes unrelated, and I put it together as a tune and made a form out of it,” Brubeck says. “He came in with two themes. He didn’t know which was the first or the second. He didn’t know they’d fit together. Dopa, depa, depa, dopa, lom, bom, bom, bom. That’s one theme. I’m the one that put them together and said, ‘We can make a tune out of this. . . . ³

The piece was a last-minute addition to the album Time Out, with no one expecting much out of it. Fun fact: For the 45 RPM single sent out to radio stations as promotional material for the album, “Take Five” was featured on the A side even though even Desmond thought of it as a “throwaway.” It wasn’t put on side B because the other piece planned for the single was “Blue Rondo a la Turk,” a title considered to be too long for disc jockeys to say on the air. (Of course “Take Five” has a double meaning: “take five” as in “take a five-minute break” and also the weird five-beat time signature.) And the thing just took off.

At some point (and despite many googles I’ve been unable to determine when or why) it was decided to put lyrics to the tune, and so Iola Brubeck provided them. She was an extremely talented writer who provided lyrics for a number of Brubeck pieces, as well as text for his newsletter and the liner notes for at least one of his albums. I think, although I can’t quite support this idea with any sources, that Brubeck wanted to have the jazz singer Carmen McRae sing the piece and so asked Iola to write some words. As with all good songwriting, these lyrics tell a story. I’ll include the full set below the videos, but here’s my favorite part:

Though I’m goin’ out of my way
just so I can pass by each day,
not a single word do we say,
it’s a pantomime and not a play.

And now for the videos! First, the original album track:

Then the vocal version with Carmen McRae:

And here’s a stellar performance of Shaw’s arrangement in a super-cool location which an alert reader identified as Paço dos Duques de Bragança (Palace of the Dukes of Braganza) in northern Portugal:

And–sorry not sorry that I couldn’t resist including one more video–a great ensemble playing at the White House in 2016 to celebrate International Jazz Day. Be sure to watch for Michelle Obama groovin’ to the music:

Here, as promised, are the complete lyrics from the Kirby Shaw choral arrangement. He’s added the “bah bah dah bee ah’s” to replace the instrumental licks and also a few more lines. Just don’t tell Iola!

Won't you stop and take a little time out with me, just take five.
Stop your busy day and take the time out to see I'm alive, I'm alive.

Though I'm goin' out of my way
Just so I can pass by each day;
Not a single word do we say,
It's a pantomime and not a play.

Still I know our eyes often meet.
I feel tingles down to my feet;
Then your smile that's much too discreet,
Sends me on my way.

Now wouldn't it be better not to be so polite, you could offer a light.
Start a little conversation now, it's alright, just take five!

Bah bah dah bee ah, take five, take five.
Bah bah day bee ah, take five, take five.
Here's what you do, baby, take five.
You know it's true, baby, now I'm alive.
Relax awhile, baby, take five.
Give me a smile, then I know I'm alive.

Take it! Now baby, take five.
Break it! How can I survive?
Baby! Don't say that we're through,
Baby! You know I love you!

Offer me your hand,
It would be so grand.
Now baby, take five! Take five!

Bah dop bah dot 
Dah bah dah dot!

(C) Debi Simons

1. “The Ranch Years” in Dave Brubeck: the Man ↩︎
2. “Iola Brubeck” in Dave Brubeck: the Man ↩︎
3. “The Story of Dave Brubeck’s ‘Take Five’” ↩︎