Cole Porter: Selected Lyrics: (american Poets Project #21)

Cole Porter was one of the few grand song writers who actually not only wrote the lyrics for his songs, but also the music. It is said that it is quite impossible to separate the two as they are so intricately interwoven. This well may be. I must say though, as an individual who has listen to his work being presented in various forms for years, I had never actually sat down and read his lyrics as stand alones. How interesting this was and how grateful I am that the American Poets Project was collectively wise enough to present Porter's work in this format. Much has been written of the "Lost Generation," that band of writers who through self imposed exiles who haunted Paris after World War I. It has always rather amazed and bewildered me that in all the books; the biographies I have read covering this period, few mention Cole Porter as playing a prominent role in this movement...if you will. Yet Porter epitomized that group of men and women who changed the way we view literature, culture, music and dance forever. Porter can arguably be named as one of the most influential song writers of the 1900s. Over 800 songs are attributed to him and he had a tremendous influence on the Broadway scene as well as Hollywood. Cole's wit and I might add sophisticated life experiences shine through in his work for those who care to listen. Cole's rather jaded outlook on life was pragmatic to the extreme. His lyrics addressed love, sex, pain, anguish, joy, homosexuality, promiscuousness and so much more, while in his own dry way poked a bit of fun at the rich and famous. All this was done in an age of censorship to the extreme. His efforts, conscious or not, led the way and opened the doors for many songwriters who followed him. This little book offers us over 90 selections and a fare representation of his total body of work. The reader will find here both the familiar and the not so familiar; dished out without the music so that the words can be savored on their own merit. It will surprise many readers, especially the young, at just how many of these songs have embedded themselves into our American; indeed, our Western Culture and psyche. After the loss of his right leg in 1958, Cole never wrote another song. He died in 1964 at the age of 73. Despite this we have artists such as U2, Deborah Harry, David Byrne and Annie Lenox along with those such as Robbie William, Sheryl Crow and Diana Krall who still have recorded his music. To be honest, if you listen closely to the score of many contemporary films, you will find Cole's finger prints all over them. Cole led a rather fascinating life and left us a wonderful legacy via his music. His range was tremendous and his knowledge of the world and the general human condition was deep. Do yourself a real favor and get a copy of this work and set back for a few evenings and just enjoy. Not only will you be fed a wonderful dose of your musical heritage, but you will most certainly see friends, acqua

As a child and beyond, I soaked up pop song lyrics that have remained cruelly fixed in memory and apparently ineradicable. Too often (and mysteriously) some snatch of what is most often retro and regrettable will surface. This can be highly annoying, as will be clear to those who've heard one of those appalling 1950s clunkers like "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" and finds that it periodically and mysteriously lays siege to their consciousness. Such bizarre "Many Splendored" lyrics as, "Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to sing" may then infest one's head for days. I thought of this assault-by-heard-music syndrome when I began to look into "Cole Porter, selected lyrics" - compiled by Editor Robert Kimball as a 21st-century salute to the astonishingly prolific master of both music and lyrics who died in 1964 at 73. He was witty, worldly, and a magician capable of amazing feats of legerdemain, not with wand but with words and music. Why, then, hadn't even one from the rich trove of Porter compositions - uber-sophisticated, sly, knowing - wedged itself within my brain? I'd welcome being haunted, for example, by a Porter confection such as "Why Don't We Try Staying Home?" with its gently coaxing refrain, "What if we threw a party or two, And asked only you and me?" Or the get-on-with-life-after-loss lyrics of "It's All Right With Me": "You can't know how happy I am that we met/ I'm strangely attracted to you/ There's someone I'm trying so hard to forget/ Don't you want to forget someone too?" The only frustration of this slender volume (one in the series sponsored by the "American Poets Project") is that it is slender! Some 800 of his compositions survive, it's said. I say, "Bring on more Porter!"