"I Won't Dance" is a song with music byJerome Kern that has become ajazz standard. The song has two different sets of lyrics: the first written byOscar Hammerstein II andOtto Harbach in 1934, and second written byDorothy Fields (thoughJimmy McHugh was also credited) in 1935.

Kern, Hammerstein and Harbach originally wrote "I Won't Dance" for the 1934 London musicalThree Sisters. However,Three Sisters flopped and was quickly forgotten.

The next year, Fields was hired to help with the music for a film version of the 1933 Kern-Harbach musicalRoberta. The writing team decided to make use of "I Won't Dance" for the film, also namedRoberta.^[1] However, Fields rewrote nearly all of the lyrics, making the song more playful and suggestive by having the narrator refuse to dance because "I know that music leads the way to romance". The song became such a hit, largely because it was performed byFred Astaire, that it is now included in all stage revivals and recordings ofRoberta.

• 1952:Kaye Ballard andJack Cassidy –Roberta studio cast recording
• 1956:Anita O'Day –Pick Yourself Up with Anita O'Day^[2]
• 1956:Carmen Cavallaro –Eddy Duchin Remembered
• 1957:Frank Sinatra –A Swingin' Affair! (andSinatra-Basie, 1962)
• 1957:Blossom Dearie -Blossom Dearie^[3] andEt Tu Bruce; (1984)
• 1960;Margaret Whiting –Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook
• 1962;Johnny Mathis -Live It Up!
• 1961:Ella Fitzgerald –Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson
• 1963:Peggy Lee –Mink Jazz
• 1970:Jula de Palma –Jula al Sistina
• 1973:The Pasadena Roof Orchestra –The Best of the Pasadena Roof Orchestra
• 1993: David Silverman Trio (I Have Dreamed CD) Chase Music Group – Los Angeles, CA
• 1994:Sylvia McNair withAndré Previn andDavid Finck –Sure Thing: The Jerome Kern Songbook
• 1997:Susannah McCorkle –The People That You Never Get To Love
• 1997:Barbara Cook –Oscar Winners: The Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein, II
• 1999:Stacey Kent –Let Yourself Go: Celebrating Fred Astaire
• 1999:Busdriver – "I Won't Dance"^[4]
• 2002:Will Young –Pop Idol: The Big Band Album
• 2004:Jane Monheit andMichael Bublé –Taking a Chance on Love
• 2007:Richard Rodney Bennett –Words and Music
• 2009:Jessica Lange andMalcolm Gets – their duet recorded in common for the soundtrackGrey Gardens^[5]
• 2010:Sarah McKenzie –Don't Tempt Me (2011),We Could Be Lovers (2014).
• 2013:The King's Singers - Great American Songbook
• 2014:Lady Gaga andTony Bennett –Cheek to Cheek
• 2015: Jamie Parker withJohn Wilson Orchestra -Celebrating Frank Sinatra (DVD)
• 2021:Willie Nelson andDiana Krall -That's Life

The song was added to the 1935 film version of "Roberta", sung byFred Astaire andGinger Rogers, danced to (solo) by Fred Astaire, then reprised as a dance by both.

The song is anachronistically used as a musical number performed byFelicia Day in thetelevision film biography of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt,Warm Springs, which largely takes place in the year 1924.

The song was also performed byLucille Bremer andVan Johnson for the 1946 KernbiopicTill the Clouds Roll By. Since the scene takes place in a 1920s nightclub, its appearance in the chronology of the film is, again, anachronistic.

The song was sung and danced to byMarge Champion andGower Champion in the 1952 film "Lovely to Look At".

The version of the song byFrank Sinatra was in a scene in the movieWhat Women Want, where the character Nick, played byMel Gibson, is dancing with a coat hanger.

The song was performed onThe Muppet Show Episode 34 in a scene whereMiss Piggy asksKermit the Frog to dance.

The song was performed in the 2000 filmLove's Labour's Lost (film).

The song was performed as a duet byJessica Lange andMalcolm Gets playing the roles of "Big Edie"Edith Bouvier Beale and George Gould Strong in HBO's 2009 dramatizationGrey Gardens^[6] based on the 1975 documentaryGrey Gardens.