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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 11:07:56 GMT
I thought I'd start this, as it often turns into a discussion about this in other threads.
First of all we had better define the parameters.
I've put it in the musicals section because the majority come originally from stage or screen musicals, even though the song is classic and the musical long forgotten; but a few were stand alone songs written for a particular performer like Sinatra.
At the top of the tree for sheer quality and quantity to we have:
Gershwin
Berlin
Rodgers
Kern
Porter
and then a little lower down the branches we have:
Loesser
Loewe
Carmichael
Styne
Youmens
Van Heusen
De Silva, Brown, Henderson
Vernon Duke
Ellington
Arlen
I also think there should be a cut off point around 1960, that's why I've not included Kander or Sondheim, but frankly I think the rules are meant to be broken a tad. I've also not included Bernstein or Weill, as I don't think they quite fit, but I'm a huge fan of both.
There are are also a few one hit wonders like Garner's 'Misty', Gross's 'Tenderly' etc. And two by a Brit that sound as American as they come, namely Ray Noble's 'The Very Thought of You' and 'Love is the Sweetest Thing.'
I'm sure I've left out some stonking composers, and I think this should also, of course, be a discussion about lyricists with just a few that come to mind:
Ira Gershwin
Dorothy Fields
Larry Hart
Oscar Hammerstein
Alan Jay Lerner
Yip Harburg
Johnny Mercer
Sammy Cahn
Anyway, who is in and who is not, is not really important, it's just an excuse to waffle on about songs I love to both play and listen to. I'll come back with a few of my favs, but what do you like?
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 16, 2017 12:09:32 GMT
That's a good start, tmesis, and you have covered the field thoroughly, except that I would definitely include Bernstein and probably Weill – Bernstein if for nothing else but 'West Side Story' and Weill for several major shows including 'Lady in the Dark' and 'Love Life', the latter was a great favourite with John McGlinn and he was very disappointed that he couldn't persuade EMI to record it with him.
So how does this discussion progress? You have asked for suggestions of favourite songs but I suppose I could kick it off with something of a detour by asking for nominations for the best/greatest/most successful song from the American Songbook, and I don't think there is any doubt that the winner is 'Somewhere over the rainbow'. Does anybody disagree with that?
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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 13:21:37 GMT
Over the Rainbow is probably the most successful song (financially definitely, though White Christmas will trump it) and it's an extremely fine song (I actually enjoy playing it on the piano more than listening to it) but if we stick only to Arlen, I much prefer Stormy Weather and The Man that got Away, with those wonderful lyrics by Ira. I'm surprised Sondheim doesn't rate Ira more highly, as he's almost my most favourite lyricist of all. I'll come back later with more, although I love so many of these songs, that a greatest is almost impossible.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 16, 2017 16:54:10 GMT
Yes, I think 'White Christmas' is probably right at the top as far as 'successful' is concerned but 'Somewhere over the rainbow' continues to be sung by pop stars today and Shayne Ward clinched his winning of the second X-Factor by singing it, albeit some 12 years ago now! Those other two Arlen songs certainly hit the mark and Ira's lyrics are classy classics.
Is anybody else going to join this thread or is it just you and me, tmesis?
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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 17:24:58 GMT
I've a feeling it could be just you and me Tony....
But pressing on, I'll have a start at the top of my list of the greats with
Gershwin
I can't think of a single song of his that I don't like; and I still like, and find fresh his well-known stuff - I got Rhythm, They can't take that away, A Foggy Day. His songs are particularly satisfying to play on piano, whereas I don't find Porter and Berlin quite so appealing from a playing point of view.
Among his well known stuff I really like:
Embraceable You
Somebody Loves me
How long has this been going on
Someone to watch over me
Among slightly more esoteric stuff:
I've got a crush on you
Shall we Dance
Soon.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2017 17:26:24 GMT
Moon River... one of my Desert Island Discs. Is that one allowed? (I think it's just after your cut off point!) For my partner's Big Birthday, one of the things we did was have Afternoon Tea at the Ritz. A pianist tickles the keys while you sip, and there's a little card by each place setting asking if you would like any requests played. Unbeknown to eachother, Birthday Boy and I had both written Moon River, as no doubt had lots of others there that afternoon. And when it was played we both cried! (I also requested Joyce Grenfell's I'm Going To See You Today, another little masterpiece, written with Richard Addinsell, but it wasn't played.  ) |
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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 17:31:00 GMT
Moon River... one of my Desert Island Discs. Is that one allowed? (I think it's just after your cut off point!) For my partner's Big Birthday, one of the things we did was have Afternoon Tea at the Ritz. A pianist tickles the keys while you sip, and there's a little card by each place setting asking if you would like any requests played. Unbeknown to eachother, Birthday Boy and I had both written Moon River, as no doubt had lots of others there that afternoon. And when it was played we both cried! (I also requested Joyce Grenfell's I'm Going To See You Today, another little masterpiece, written with Richard Addinsell, but it wasn't played. ) Moon River is definitely allowed because I adore it (so there.) An exquisite tune with classy poignant harmonies. Definitely one of the greatest songs ever written. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2017 17:50:06 GMT
'The Way You Look Tonight' is quite something. For such a simple melody, it's particularly evocative. There isn't even a dotted note in the melody line - whole notes jump down a fifth to begin the tune, then just small variations to the intervals on the 'three up, one down' pattern, and an octave leap down on "of you".  |
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 16, 2017 18:41:59 GMT
Congratulations, cmonfeet, for bringing 'The Way You Look Tonight' into the discussion. It has been in my mind for the past few days but you beat me to mentioning it. But it's not just the melody line that is extraordinary, it's the incredible progression of the harmonies as well throughout the whole song. But that's nothing new for Kern whose harmonies could be amazing. The middle eight of 'Smoke Gets in your Eyes' is another example of unusual harmonies, used to powerful effect. Of course Kern was not the only one to use unusual harmonies in popular songs: Johnny Green in 'Body and Soul' ranges rather widely in the middle eight, and 'Cry me a river' has a tricky middle eight as well. But, as you say, it's the overall simplicity of Kern's inspired melodies, coupled with his daring harmonies, that really impresses.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 16, 2017 18:56:30 GMT
(I also requested Joyce Grenfell's I'm Going To See You Today, another little masterpiece, written with Richard Addinsell, but it wasn't played. ) As an old occasional cocktail pianist who played in a couple of London restaurants when I was on the books of Mrs Geraldo (don't ask!) I certainly couldn't have played 'I'm going to see you today' and I rather doubt whether many other cocktail pianists could have done so. You would however have been safe asking for 'Moon River'. 'As Time Goes By' would also have been available as well as 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'! |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2017 19:26:01 GMT
(I also requested Joyce Grenfell's I'm Going To See You Today, another little masterpiece, written with Richard Addinsell, but it wasn't played. ![:'(]() ) As an old occasional cocktail pianist who played in a couple of London restaurants when I was on the books of Mrs Geraldo (don't ask!) I certainly couldn't have played 'I'm going to see you today' and I rather doubt whether many other cocktail pianists could have done so. You would however have been safe asking for 'Moon River'. 'As Time Goes By' would also have been available as well as 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'! ...but the other two you mention have no meaning for me, tony. I know them, but that's it. I like requests. I like to set a challenge! And I suppose I've been lucky: in a gorgeous little hotel in Natchez I requested 'Being Alive' and the pianist said he didn't know it. I pretended to cry and berated him for not knowing one of Sondheim's most touching songs. About half an hour later, after a bit of a quiet spell, he started to play it. He'd listened to it on Youtube and had a bash. It was a bit clunky but I was in Heaven! Another hotel in Denver (different holiday!) and the pianist played one Sondheim after another at my request. He finished his set by playing 'A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square'. "For you Brits..." Another tear shed... You never know what a cocktail pianist will know! |
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 16, 2017 20:17:43 GMT
Another hotel in Denver (different holiday!) and the pianist played one Sondheim after another at my request. He finished his set by playing 'A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square'. "For you Brits..." Another tear shed... You never know what a cocktail pianist will know! Good point. Not many of them know the entire score of 'The Belle of New York' off by heart. No, that's something of an exaggeration on my part and when I was tinkling in restaurants, I think my Sondheim would have been limited to 'Comedy Tonight', 'Broadway Baby' and 'Side by Side', all of which I had played at the Pindar of Wakefield from the music. Did the pianist in Denver not play 'These foolish things' for you Brits? Did you know it has an alternative (longer) middle section by an American composer to make it more palatable to American ears because the original English one is only four bars (or something like that)? I know both versions and fail to see what's wrong with the shorter one, but then I'm not American. |
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 16, 2017 20:21:44 GMT
...but the other two you mention have no meaning for me, tony. I know them, but that's it. By the way, I take it the above is a joke. Is it? |
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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 22:26:35 GMT
Congratulations, cmonfeet, for bringing 'The Way You Look Tonight' into the discussion. It has been in my mind for the past few days but you beat me to mentioning it. But it's not just the melody line that is extraordinary, it's the incredible progression of the harmonies as well throughout the whole song. But that's nothing new for Kern whose harmonies could be amazing. The middle eight of 'Smoke Gets in your Eyes' is another example of unusual harmonies, used to powerful effect. Of course Kern was not the only one to use unusual harmonies in popular songs: Johnny Green in 'Body and Soul' ranges rather widely in the middle eight, and 'Cry me a river' has a tricky middle eight as well. But, as you say, it's the overall simplicity of Kern's inspired melodies, coupled with his daring harmonies, that really impresses. Kern is definitely my all time favourite among the 5 greats. My favourite song by him is All the things You Are, which is a strong contender for my favourite song of all time. This song is about the cleverest there is for shifting tonality. Kern effortlessly goes through all sorts of remote keys, but what makes him a genius is the whole thing sounds so natural because the sweep of the melody drives it along and doesn't draw attention to its cleverness. The Way you Look Tonight, Long ago and far away, The Song is You (what an amazing soaring melody) and Smoke gets in your Eyes all have amazing enharmonic modulations in them. The latter just plunges straight from E flat to B major for the middle 8 and then gets back effortlessly to the tonic as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He just makes it sound so easy and it really isn't. In fact Tony, much as admire Body and Soul (and I really do) Green does leave getting back to the home key at the end of the middle 8 a bit late and it's a slightly awkwardly abrupt transition that Kern wouldn't entertain. |
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Post by tmesis on Sept 16, 2017 22:49:26 GMT
tonyloco I prefer the 4 bar middle of These Foolish Things. I'm also intrigued that Boosey and Hawkes hold the copyright for this song. Standards aren't usually their niche - more, Britten, Stravinsky, Shostakovich et al
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 16, 2017 23:04:10 GMT
Kern is definitely my all time favourite among the 5 greats. My favourite song by him is All the things You Are, which is a strong contender for my favourite song of all time. This song is about the cleverest there is for shifting tonality. Kern effortlessly goes through all sorts of remote keys, but what makes him a genius is the whole thing sounds so natural because the sweep of the melody drives it along and doesn't draw attention to its cleverness. The Way you Look Tonight, Long ago and far away, The Song is You (what an amazing soaring melody) and Smoke gets in your Eyes all have amazing enharmonic modulations in them. The latter just plunges straight from E flat to B major for the middle 8 and then gets back effortlessly to the tonic as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He just makes it sound so easy and it really isn't. In fact Tony, much as admire Body and Soul (and I really do) Green does leave getting back to the home key at the end of the middle 8 a bit late and it's a slightly awkwardly abrupt transition that Kern wouldn't entertain. Ah, but that chromatic drop of several notes and their relevant keys to get out of the middle eight of 'Body and Soul' back to the reprise of the main tune is like suddenly finding the key to get out of a locked room! It might be awkward but I love it! |
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 16, 2017 23:27:03 GMT
tonyloco I prefer the 4 bar middle of These Foolish Things. I'm also intrigued that Boosey and Hawkes hold the copyright for this song. Standards aren't usually their niche - more, Britten, Stravinsky, Shostakovich et al But they've got to make a crust so they need a few popular songs to earn some money. That's a joke! What does Gerald Hoffnung say? "If Britten can write it then Boosey can hawk it" or something like that. |
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Post by tmesis on Sept 17, 2017 7:24:23 GMT
Kern is definitely my all time favourite among the 5 greats. My favourite song by him is All the things You Are, which is a strong contender for my favourite song of all time. This song is about the cleverest there is for shifting tonality. Kern effortlessly goes through all sorts of remote keys, but what makes him a genius is the whole thing sounds so natural because the sweep of the melody drives it along and doesn't draw attention to its cleverness. The Way you Look Tonight, Long ago and far away, The Song is You (what an amazing soaring melody) and Smoke gets in your Eyes all have amazing enharmonic modulations in them. The latter just plunges straight from E flat to B major for the middle 8 and then gets back effortlessly to the tonic as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He just makes it sound so easy and it really isn't. In fact Tony, much as admire Body and Soul (and I really do) Green does leave getting back to the home key at the end of the middle 8 a bit late and it's a slightly awkwardly abrupt transition that Kern wouldn't entertain. Ah, but that chromatic drop of several notes and their relevant keys to get out of the middle eight of 'Body and Soul' back to the reprise of the main tune is like suddenly finding the key to get out of a locked room! It might be awkward but I love it! Yes, I've been a bit harsh on one of the great songs of all time, I love playing it, although the 'blue' inflections make it a tad awkward. The plunge into the new key for the middle 8 is one of the best ever. Another song with a great middle 8 plunge into new key territory is A nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, that's an absolute delight to play. My favourite sung version of it is a live recording with Mel Torme and George Shearing (he also does the evocative verse.)* ** The best sung version of Body and Soul is Ella but even she has a little difficulty with the lowest note - It really does cover an unusually wide range! Another song that's an absolute bugger to pitch, particularly because of his middle 8 modulations is Hoagy's Skylark. Quite a few singers come a cropper in this (not Ella, as ever her intonation is immaculate.) Skylark is another superb song, although again, judged on the highest level of Kern, a bit too clever in the Middle 8 key changes, but it really is a fab tune, with delicious descending semitonal chord relationships and it's another song with an extended tessitura (Oh Matron! That's painful!) * The best instrumental version is Scott Hamilton (t. Sax) at the Breacon Jazz Festival **The sheer skill with which the 'greats' set up the main tune with an inspired verse, is deserving of a thread of it's own (Gershwin's verses are particularly good.) |
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 17, 2017 12:51:35 GMT
**The sheer skill with which the 'greats' set up the main tune with an inspired verse, is deserving of a thread of it's own (Gershwin's verses are particularly good.) I'm sure tmesis you know that Sinatra initially incurred the wrath of Hoagland by recording only the verse of Stardust in 1961 – 'And now the purple dusk of twilight time...' but Wiki says Hoagy changed his mind when he heard the recording. And I agree about Berkeley Square. I usually play it in Eb and there is something very pleasurable, almost physical, about going into G major for the middle eight. And regarding Ella Fitzgerald, I once compiled a set of four cassettes to accompany a teaching aid called 'André Previn's Guide to Music' which was mainly classical but included a section on jazz and Previn included Ella's scat singing along with the usual suspects like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billy Holiday, etc, because he felt she was one of the very greatest exponents of jazz, in addition of course to her definitive 'straight' singing of the songbooks of Porter, Berlin, Gershwin, Kern, etc |
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Post by tmesis on Sept 17, 2017 16:15:58 GMT
I too play Nightingale in E flat and the plunge into G major gives me a real frisson (if you see what I mean!) E flat is definitely my favourite key to play in anyway and luckily many great songs are in that key - Over the Rainbow, Smoke gets..., Tenderley, Skylark, With a Song in my Heart, Can't help lovin' dat man, Every time we Say Goodbye, etc,etc.
Also fascinated to know you were involved in those Previn educational cassettes. In a former life, over 25 years ago, I was a class music teacher and used those very cassettes. I thought they were really good and the kids loved them too. Am I right in thinking the actual script that Previn delivered was by Benny Green? I used to love his Sunday afternoon Radio 2 programme and subsequently the similar one done by Russel Davies.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 17, 2017 18:00:52 GMT
Also fascinated to know you were involved in those Previn educational cassettes. In a former life, over 25 years ago, I was a class music teacher and used those very cassettes. I thought they were really good and the kids loved them too. Am I right in thinking the actual script that Previn delivered was by Benny Green? I used to love his Sunday afternoon Radio 2 programme and subsequently the similar one done by Russel Davies. Gosh, what a small world. I didn't know those scripts were by Benny Green and if that is correct then I am surprised that he knew enough about classical music. I had certainly never heard of the pianola music of Nancarrow, for example! And I never actually saw the finished teaching kits so if there were credits anywhere but on the cassettes I never saw them because the cassettes were all I ever got. The project was done by Macmillan, and EMI was approached by Alyn Shipton to compile the cassettes because Previn was at that time under an exclusive recording contract to EMI and I was responsible for outward licensing of the company's classical catalogue. Alyn was, and still is, a jazz expert so it is possible that he brought Benny Green on board for the script. I am fairly sure that the music was Previn's own choice but it would also make sense to use someone like Benny Green to write the actual script. I used to listen to Benny Green's Sunday radio programme but usually just to see what he said that I disagreed with! Going back to Alyn Shipton, he is a jazz bass player and on one occasion I dragooned him into coming to Stratford East for a Sunday Night Variety Show where the top of the bill was the wonderful jazz vocalist Maxine Daniels. Alyn later wrote Maxine's obituary for the Times and he made reference obliquely to that very occasion. These posts are turning into my autobiography! And I concur that those songs are in E flat although I usually find F an easier key, but it was one of my talents to be able to transpose songs into any of the easy keys by ear and into more difficult ones if I had a printed copy. When I did a gig with Maxine she would phone me and tell me what songs she was doing and in what key, which would always be a couple of tones lower than the published key. I would then photocopy the printed music (I had a very comprehensive library of popular songs) and write the new chords on the music. I could always transpose the melody line into any new key by sight and then busk the new chords underneath. Your turn now, tmesis – or anybody else, for that matter! |
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Post by tmesis on Sept 17, 2017 19:42:54 GMT
Yes Benny was very opinionated and had a rather limited few singers he really liked but he was a consummate broadcaster, who put his programmes together with great care and skill.
I play these standards from the sheet music but also from real (fake) books too. I tend to like the latter because it frees you up from the dots and liberates the mind for improvising, which I'm reasonable at, but I'd never call myself a true jazz pianist. I also play quite well by ear.
Moving on...
Cole Porter
Well this could all get repetitive because he's clearly a genius but this time at both words and music. Like Kern he often uses a very wide vocal range and some of his ballads are very difficult to sing. I think it's interesting that the only non-Jew in the great 5 sounds the most Jewish in some of his songs; probably because he uses minor keys more than the others. He also departed more from the standard AABA form than the others and wrote songs at greater length than the rest (Begin the Beguine is gargantuan.)
Difficult to name favourites among such excellence but:
Anything Goes
Miss Otis Regrets (Ella)
Too Darn Hot (Mel)
Always true to you in my fashion (Julie London)
Easy to Love
Night and Day
In Night and Day I love how the main tune begins on a harmony of the flattened 6th creating a great tension that then resolves - the verse is superb too.
My favourite version of Let's Do it is the re-written Noel Coward version:
'The Belgians and Greeks do it,
Nice young men who sell antiques do it,
Let's do it...'
Only Noel
Could out do Cole!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 17, 2017 23:38:55 GMT
Just to finish off Benny Green, the day he said that Charles Trenet's version of La Mer was no good and you had to listen to Bobby Darin to hear how the song should be sung was the day I almost threw a chair at the radio!
Coming to Cole Porter, yes I agree with everything you say, but I do have a rather different view in that I think Porter is such a man of the theatre that I enjoy his songs best when they are performed in a theatrical context. I know they work extremely well in cabaret, as Hutch and Bobby Short among others have demonstrated, and also as jazz standards, but I want the smell of the greasepaint as well. This is basically not true of many of the best songs of Rodgers and Hart, Gershwin and Kern but for me I want to hear 'Too darn hot' in the original Broadway cast recording with that zinging guitar and the negro solo voice. And this of course is double theatre because it is the cast of a theatrical company sitting outside a stage door on a hot night – how much more theatrical can you get? Did you see any of Ian Marshall Fisher's 'Lost Musicals' when he did the Ethel Merman Cole Porter shows like 'Panama Hattie', 'Something for the Boys' and 'DuBarry was a Lady' with the wonderful Louise Gold doing the Merman roles. Sheer bliss. And 'Jubilee' was double heaven: a very funny show stuffed with classic Porter songs including 'Begin the Beguine'.
I will of course agree totally that the very best version of 'Let's Do It' is Noel Coward's rewrite. I'm sure you know that Coward and Porter were friends and they even shared a boyfriend, whose name escapes me but there is a picture of the three of them together on a beach somewhere wearing swimming trunks.
Coming back to the point I made above, it has previously struck me that many of the Gershwin songs, although written for stage shows and films, really have little to do with the shows they are in and are at their best when removed from those shows. As an example, the lyrics of 'Lady, Be Good' and 'Fascinatin' Rhythm' have absolutely no relevance to the plot of the show 'Lady, Be Good' for which they were written. This accusation can also occasionally be levelled at some of the songs by Rodgers and Hart and maybe also Kern and Berlin, but never Porter, all of whose songs are an integral part of the shows they are in – and they always work in context, even if they are not all that firmly embedded in the script. For example, the Lost Musicals included Porter's 'The New Yorkers' a show from 1930 that achieved only 168 performances and included the song 'Love for sale' which was of little relevance to the main plot but boy, was it effective in performance.
That's one of the reasons I go beserk when stupid directors change Porter's shows, as in a recent production of 'Kiss Me, Kate' they added a chorus to 'We Open in Venice', they cut the verse of 'Bianca' and Lois Lane sang 'Always true to you in my fashion' directly to Bill. How uncomprehending can these directors be? KM,K ran for 1,077 performances on Broadway so I would say it doesn't need fixing! But I seem to be getting side-tracked. Yes, Porter is one of the greats and I have always prided myself that I have always been able to play Begin the Beguine since I was very young, having learnt it mainly from the Joe Loss recording with Chick Henderson. It's absolutely straight but that suits me! Oh, but Artie Shaw's instrumental version of 'Begin the Beguine' is one of the great gems of orchestral jazz – I get goose bumps every time I hear it, especially the coda up to the high note. Wow! A bit like the coda to Glen Miller's 'In the Mood'. But I'm digressing.
Now unless you wish to comment further on Porter, I would like to hear your thoughts on Irving Berlin.
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Post by tmesis on Sept 18, 2017 7:41:54 GMT
Tony, what an amazingly interesting post - I'm so enjoying your thoughts!
Monday's a long working day for me so a few (hurried) points...
Charles Trenet definitely better than Darin, it's one of the most evocative records ever.
Also agree Porter works better in a theatrical context. Loved NT production of Anything Goes from 15 years ago (?)
Also loved the John Wilson Prom performance of Kiss me Kate which I saw live.
Artie Shaw's Begin the Beguine is an absolute classic. My main instrument is the clarinet, so I'm very opinionated about different players, but Shaw is a god and I much prefer him to Goodman. He was a really interesting man too, and quite an intellectual. Did you see the excellent programme about him on BBC 4 a few years back? (I think it was written by Russel Davies) he was very funny and sharp.
Anyway, must dash; rather appropriately at 9.00 am I'm teaching a bored housewife the clarinet!
ps. Will give thoughts on Berlin soon
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 18, 2017 9:46:57 GMT
Tmesis, I think we're definitely singing from the same hymn sheet! When I played in a ghastly three-piece dance band in my youth (piano, trumpet and drums), one of the trumpeter's party pieces was Woody Herman's 'Golden Wedding' and of course we also did a version of Glen Miller's 'In the Mood' but I digress once more. No, I didn't see the programme on Artie Shaw, which sounds great.
I seem to have signed off on Porter rather prematurely and I should cite a few of his main songs that I particularly like, starting with two E flat classics: 'I've got you under my skin' and 'It's alright with me' (despite it's rather unresolved ending). 'Just one of those things' is great and 'It's de'lovely' always went down well in my tinkling days. And I love his New York songs like 'Take me back to Manhattan', 'Down in the depths of the 90th floor', 'I happen to like New York' and 'Make it another old fashioned' (which may not be specifically about New York but I always think it must be). But at the end of the day it's his strong theatrical songs that I like best, especially the clever ones like: 'Let's misbehave', 'My heart belongs to daddy' and 'Swell Party' which of course is one of Porter's wonderful catalogue songs like 'You're the top', 'Brush up your Shakespeare', 'Katie went to Haiti', 'Who wants to be a millionaire' and many others. But I am drawn back to the kind of songs you like and have to finish with Ella singing 'Every time we say goodbye' .... ! I say finish, but I just Googled 'Songs by Cole Porter' and there is absolutely no end to his talent!!
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