"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is a song written byGeorge Gershwin andIra Gershwin for the1937 filmShall We Dance, where it was introduced byFred Astaire andGinger Rogers as part of a celebrated dance duet on roller skates.^[5] The sheet music has the tempo marking of "Brightly".^[6] The song was ranked No. 34 onAFI's 100 Years...100 Songs.^[7]

The song is most famous for its "You like to-may-to/təˈmeɪtə/ / And I like to-mah-to/təˈmɑːtə/" and other verses comparingBritish andAmerican English pronunciations oftomato and other words.

In addition to being regional, the differences in pronunciation serve more specifically to identify class differences. At the time, typical American pronunciations were considered less "refined" by the upper-class, and there was a specific emphasis on the "broader"a sound.^[8] This class distinction with respect to pronunciation has been retained in caricatures, especially in the theater, where the longera pronunciation is most strongly associated with the worddarling.^{[9][relevant?]}

• Fred Astaire withJohnny Green & His Orchestra (1937)^[10]
• Shep Fields and his Riplling Rhythm Orchestra with vocalist Bobby Goday (1937)^[11]
• Billie Holiday – onLady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944 (1937), or onThe Quintessential Billie Holiday, Vol. 4 (1937)^[12]
• Sam Cooke –Tribute to the Lady (1959)
• Ella Fitzgerald – onElla Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959),^[13] on the 1983Pablo releaseNice Work If You Can Get It,and in a 1957 duet withLouis Armstrong onElla and Louis Again.
• Bing Crosby andRosemary Clooney recorded the song for theirradio show in 1960^[14] and it was subsequently released on the CDBing & Rosie - The Crosby-Clooney Radio Sessions (2010).^[15]
• Harry Connick Jr. for the soundtrack forWhen Harry Met Sally (1989)
• Uri Caine –Rhapsody in Blue (2013)
• Willie Nelson withCyndi Lauper onSummertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (2016)

• The song has been re-used infilmmaking andtelevision production, most notably inWhen Harry Met Sally... – where it is performed byLouis Armstrong – andThe Simpsons.
• In the February 18, 1970,Anne Bancroft television special, "Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man," Bancroft appears in acomedy sketch withDavid Susskind in which she plays a hapless singer in an audition who sings the song from sheet music, cluelessly ignoring the different pronunciation ofto-may-to andto-mah-to, etc.^[16] Ira Gershwin relates a similar incident in his 1959 book.^[17] An essentially similar sketch was performed by comediansJohn Bird andJohn Fortune in the 1976Amnesty International benefit concertA Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick).
• The tune was also featured in the 2012 Broadway MusicalNice Work If You Can Get It.
• In the 2021 filmVenom: Let There Be Carnage,Venom sings the song while it is playing on the radio.
• InThe Muppet Show episode #350,Sylvester Stallone sings a modified version of the song while dressed as a Roman gladiator and battling a dancing lion.
• The song was used as the theme from the 1990 ITV sitcomFreddie and Max, produced byThames Television, and performed by the show's starsAnne Bancroft andCharlotte Coleman.^{[citation needed]}

• Furia, Philip (1996).Ira Gershwin: The Art of the Lyricist (First ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-508299-0.
• Rosenberg, Deena Ruth (1991).Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. University of Michigan Press.ISBN 978-0-472-08469-2.

• 1937 songs
• 1937 singles
• Songs written for films
• Songs with music by George Gershwin
• Songs with lyrics by Ira Gershwin
• Male–female vocal duets
• Fred Astaire songs
• Louis Armstrong songs

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