“Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it. Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.”
“Night and Day,” “I Get A Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “Begin the Beguine,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” — some of the cleverest, funniest, and most romantic songs ever written came from the pen of Cole Porter. He was unmatched as a tunesmith, and his Broadway musicals — from “Kiss Me Kate” and “Anything Goes” to “Silk Stockings” and “Can Can” — set the standards of style and wit to which today’s composers and lyricists aspire.
Born in Peru, Indiana in 1891, Porter studied music from an early age, and began composing as a teenager. After high school he attended Yale University, where he was voted “most entertaining man.” Though he went on to law school at Harvard University, his interest remained in music. From Harvard he continued to write, and a number of his pieces were used in Broadway musicals.
In 1916, his first full score was performed. The musical, “See America First”, was a flop and closed after only fifteen performances. He soon began to travel around Europe and got an apartment in Paris. This was the beginning of his life long affection for the city, which he would return to in songs such as “You Don’t Know Paree” and “I Love Paris.” During his time abroad Porter contributed to many musicals including “Hitchy-Koo” and the “Greenwich Village Follies”. It wasn’t, however, until his song “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love” appeared in the 1928 musical Paris, that he had his first big hit.
A contemporary of George Gershwin, Richard Rogers and Jerome Kern, Porter broke from the simple sentimentality that dominated Tin Pan Alley. His urbane wit and musical complexity won him the affection of the nation. Songs such as “What Is This Thing Called Love,” “I Get A Kick Out of You,” and “Too Darn Hot,” became instant hits and have remained classics. While his name was associated with many of these upbeat show toons, a more melancholy side could be seen in such wonderful songs as “Miss Otis Regrets” and “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye.”
Despite a horseback riding accident in 1937 that crippled him for life, Porter produced much of his best work in the 1940s and 50s. He wrote hundreds of songs for dozens of Broadway shows, movie musicals, and television specials. His most successful musical, “Kiss Me Kate”, opened in 1948 and ran for over a thousand performances. A recluse in his later years, Porter died in California in 1964. Today his legacy lives on in productions of his musicals and in recordings of artists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne.
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Cole Porter will never die as long as there is music….
If you haven’t seen the movie ” De-Lovely ” it is a must see…. If you are to young to know who Cole Porter is ,then watch this movie…You will love him ….!!!!!! You may cry a little also…Some of his songs just tug at your heart….Got to love him…..
JUST WENT TO SEE COLE PORTER’S PIANO AT THE WALDORF ASTORIS WHERE IT HAS REMAINED SINCE HIS DEATH. WHAT A PRIVLIDGE
On the MGM TV channel I´ve senn De-Lovely many times, I always cry a little, but the songs they´re just divine. If I´m alone I turn up the volume, sing and dance, I can´t help it. I,ve known most of these songs for a long time and I knew of Cole Porter and for time in my younger years I might have thought him a bit old fashioned but after seeing De-Lovely I´m hooked and I dread the day when MGM will take De-Lovely off their movie list. As I said maybe it´s my age and I know my interest in all kind of arts has changed through the years but now I´m just grateful and it´s my goal to collect as many CD I can with soundtracks from his shows or with his songs sung by great singers. Speaking of my age maybe there is hope for renisha yet
So,if not Sinatra, who would be a good interpreter of Cole Porter music?
I sooooooooo love Cole Porter and been buying whatever musicals are available from stores/ ebay/amazon.
I started to transfer Cole porter’s song to a DVD. Some of them from Betamax! I haven’t finished because my Beta recorder went kaput and I just found someone who can fix it! Wish me luck!
Enough said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLJTZFKUWo0
What is the correct musical terminology for the way that Cole Porter started his songs?
You know, the kind of talking about something and then he led into the song.
Thank YOU!
yes…by all means… how did we miss the movie…DE LOVELY
when it came out during the middle 2004s… and FRANK
did sing all of Cole Porter’s songs… we love Natalie Cole’s
song in the movie also… RIP …mr Cole Porter
Karen,
It is called the verse. Many composers of the Great American Songbook used the verse to lead into the main body of the song. Most songs used the form, verse, A, A, B, A.