What is the meaning of Begin the Beguine?
Originally Answered: What does begin the beguine mean? The beguine is a type of dance. “When they begin the beguine” is a song my Cole Porter, in which the singer recounts how when he hears the music for that dance, it brings back memories. So sometimes the phrase is used as a reference to the song.
"Begin the Beguine" is a popular song written by Cole Porter. Porter composed the song during a 1935 Pacific cruise aboard the Cunard ocean liner Franconia from Kalabahi, Indonesia, to Fiji.
It is a combination of Latin folk dance and French ballroom dance, and is a spirited yet slow, close dance with a roll of the hips, a movement inherited from rhumba. After Cole Porter wrote the song "Begin the Beguine", the dance became more widely known beyond the Caribbean.
“Begin the Beguine”--the three-and-a-quarter-minute, 78-rpm disc that catapulted bandleader-clarinetist Artie Shaw (1910-2004) to international stardom in the autumn of 1938, and by the 1960s was estimated to have sold some six and a half million copies-- was released as the B-side to a swing-era update of Rudolf ...
This phrase, at first (16th century) used only to describe an approaching death, gained a new meaning after the French lost the battle of Leipzig in 1813 and Talleyrand said to Napoleon, “C'est le commencement de la fin” (“It's the beginning of the end”).
: incapable of being expressed in words : indescribable. ineffable joy. : unspeakable. ineffable disgust. : not to be uttered : taboo.
Moreover, they are considered the first nurses in history. Women who dedicated themselves to caring for, helping and providing assistance to patients. These women did not take the habits or take the vow of obedience, which was important to them, and their organization within the beguinaries was democratic.
Beguines were women who chose to live religiously but did so without vowing perpetual poverty or chastity, or enclosing themselves in convents thus keeping themselves firmly independent from institutional ecclesiastical authority.
noun (1) be·guine ˈbā-ˌgēn ˌbā-ˈgēn. often capitalized. : a member of one of various ascetic and philanthropic communities of women not under vows founded chiefly in the Netherlands in the 13th century.
Carimbó Also known as the forbidden dance, from the time that Brazil was a Portuguese colony, Carimbó was a common dance in the northern part of the country. Carimbó was a loose and very sensual dance which involved many spins by the female dancer, who typically wore a rounded skirt.
It can also be referred to as Romany dance, due to the Romany name given to the traditional, proud gypsies. Gypsy dance, the folk dancing of Romany people from all over the world, are dances of graceful and joyful movements, expressing freedom, passion and playfulness.

“Begin The Begin” isn't about the short term; it's not an exhortation to riot. It's asking the listener to become an active participant in their society — if there's any hope of standing up to the powers that be, you have to engage, create, and build.
Artie Shaw, clarinet, directing: John Best, first trumpet; Chuck Peterson and Claude Bowen, trumpets; George Arus, first trombone; Harry Rodgers and Russell Brown, trombones; Les Robinson, first alto saxophone; Hank Freeman, alto saxophone; Tony Pastor and Ronnie Perry, tenor saxophones; Les Burness, piano; Al Avola, ...
noun (1) be·guine ˈbā-ˌgēn ˌbā-ˈgēn. often capitalized. : a member of one of various ascetic and philanthropic communities of women not under vows founded chiefly in the Netherlands in the 13th century.
infamy, public disgrace or loss of reputation, particularly as a consequence of criminal conviction. In early common law, conviction for an infamous crime resulted in disqualification to testify as a witness.
References
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beguine
- https://www.europeana.eu/en/blog/beguines-and-literature-in-the-middle-ages
- https://www.quora.com/What-does-begin-the-beguine-mean
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambada
- https://www.dictionary.com/browse/the-beginning-of-the-end
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beguine_(dance)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begin_the_Beguine
- https://popsongs.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/begin-the-begin/
- https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/BeginTheBeguine.pdf
- https://mundistour.com/en/beguines-free-women/
- https://swingandbeyond.com/2016/09/05/begin-the-beguine-1938-artie-shaw/
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ineffable
- http://gypsydance.org/what-is-gypsy-dance/
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/infamy