22 March 2011

Cole Porter Is The Cat's Pajamas.

Before and after, have anyone else's songs been as notable for witty lyrics.



The problem seems to be that witty is almost unsingable.

4 comments:

Harry Eagar said...

Only Roy Zimmerman.

Harry Eagar said...

I saw that show at the matinee, and 'Phantom of the Opera' the evening of the same day.

'Phantom' was the most bored I have ever been in Broadway.

erp said...

We watched "Rhapsody in Blue" last night. The music was spell binding.

Oscar Levant has no match playing Gershwin. His rendition of "Rhapsody in Blue" still brings tears to my eyes even though I've listened to it countless times.

Hard to believe George Gershwin died at 38.

The 20's spawned an amazing cluster of musical geniuses. Nothing remotely like it since.

Harry Eagar said...

I think I'll add Frank Loesser at his best to 'as witty as' Porter, but he and Zimmerman together don't come close to Porter's output.

'TheyLyrics of Cole Porter' is a big, fat coffee table book.

Zimmerman is still writing (I have 6 or 7 of his albums) and is young, so maybe he'll catch up. Since he's political, and we are entering a golden age of opportunity for political songwriters, maybe he will.