Sunday, May 22, 2011

CHARACTERISTICS OF COLE PORTER SONGS

COLE  PORTER
(1891 - 1964)

All of COLE PORTER’s shows were either REVUES or witty MUSICAL COMEDIES.  He wrote both the WORDS and MUSIC for all of his songs.  He did NOT write the books (scripts) for his shows.  He left that for professional writers dedicated to that area of work. 

A COLE PORTER song was usually written for a SOPHISTICATED New York or London  audience and often fell under one of these three song types --

    1.    Witty LIST SONGS (or “catalog” songs), sometimes with risque or double entendre meanings or with then-current topical references (that were often of necessity changed either by Cole or others with the passing of time to keep them relevant to the listener/audience and/or because of censorship problems).

    2.    Highly dramatic and INTENSE LOVE SONGS with evocative imagery.

    3.    BREEZY LOVE SONGS with interesting rhymes or ingenious wordplay.

Similar to the work of IRA GERSHWIN and the other great lyricists of this period, COLE PORTER’s lyrics often employ internal and multiple RHYME SCHEMES and REPETITION of words and phrases (although they are presented in a natural phrasing and are not always apparent to the casual listener). 


          
Classic Cole Porter Songs Introduced in the
Original 1934 Broadway Production of
A N Y T H I N G   G O E S


All Through the Night
(Intense LOVE Song)


Anything Goes
(Topical Subject LIST Song}


Blow, Gabriel, Blow
(Upbeat NOVELTY Song in the
“Black Spiritual” Tradition)


The Gypsy in Me
(Breezy LOVE Song)


 I Get a Kick Out of You
(Breezy LOVE Song)


 You’re the Top
(Name-Dropping LIST Song)








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