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A great melody first, then lyrics,(only) THEN 'vocals'


Mark Blackburn

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Quote Originally Posted by Mark Blackburn View Post
I wonder, though: can Johnny's words still bring a smile to a first-time hearer in 2011? Or could you update it with a parody of your own? (I know I could!)
You had to ask.

Hooray for Hollywood

Hooray for Hollywood,
that sleazy, cheesy, queasy Hollywood,

where any studio VP or Prez
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Bye Bye Birdie! I love it. My favorite is the silly Honestly Sincere. Conrad Birdie is so thick and full of himself he doesn't even realize he's not really sincere. Shiny gold and tight jumpsuit. Slick back hair. Did I mention the jumsuit is tight? Makes the the girls all tingly. Even the moms. Very suggestive...

You gotta be sincere!
You gotta be sincere!
You gotta feel it here,
'Cause if you feel it here,
Well, then you're gonna be honestly sincere!
If what you feel is true,
You really feel it you
Make them feel it too,
Write this down now
You gotta be sincere,
Honestly sincere!
Man, you've got to be sincere!
If you're really sincere,
If you're really sincere,
If you feel it in here
Then it's gotta be right!
Oh, baby! Oh, honey!
Hug me! Suffer!
In ev'rything I do,
My sincerity shows thro'
I looked you in the eye,
Don't even have to try,
It's automatic!
I'm sincere!
When I sing about a tree,
I really feel that tree!
When I sing about a girl,
I really feel that girl,
I mean I really feel sincere!
If you're really sincere!
If you're really sincere!
If you feel it in here,
Then it's gotta be right!
Oh, baby! Oh, honey!
Hug me! Suffer!
You gotta be sincere!
Oh oh, you gotta feel it here!
Oh, my baby, oh, my baby, oh yeah!
Oh, my baby, oh yeah!
Well, you gotta be sincere!
Well, you gotta be sincere!

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Thanks so much for that, Lee. Having heard a lot about Ms Winehouse but (I admit) not familiar with all her work, it was a delight to see her singing TEACH ME TONIGHT. Thanks too, Lee, for retaining your tag line, "Where the hell is Larry (Hart)?" -- Dick Rodgers' daily lament about his first great collaborator, whose lifestyle prevented him arriving "on time." When he did, though, Larry gifted my favorite composer with lyrical masterpieces . . . one of which I came here to celebrate. (Stop me if I'm repeating myself from 20 pages ago. I'm old. I forget things, remember?)

----

When Frank Sinatra received a two-page letter around Christmas of '92, from a

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Quote Originally Posted by Lee Knight View Post
I wonder how the Gershwins did as well. Ira was a god.

It's interesting that Elton John and Bernie Taupin did the reverse. Meaning... the lyric before the melody. I've always marveled at how Elton could come up with that stuff given the lyric. I mean, the lyrics are great but... I picture myself being given one of those lyrics, and for a moment let's say I forget how Grey Seal, for instance, goes... and I look at:

Whys it never light on my lawn
Why does it rain and never say good-day to the new-born
On the big screen they showed us the sun
But not as bright in life as the real one
It`s never quite the same as the real one


I mean... WTF? But Elton made magic out of that verse. Lyrics first in their case. Amazing to me.

I do wonder how the Gershwins did it. I suspect George led the charge in their case.
WITH ELTON AND BERNIE, THE SONGS ALREADY CAME WITH A MELODY ASSOCIATED WITH THEM. ELTON WOULD JUST 'PIMP' THE MELODY OUT INTO A FULL RUNNING PROGRESSION.. SO THE MELODY ACTUALLY CAME FIRST, AND THIS WAS EVERY SINGLE HIT SONG, 'EVERY'!
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First a thank-you to the newcomer with 'abs-of-steel' (your 'six-pack' is somewhat better developed than mine!) for the reminder of Lee Knight's opening observation -- back on page one of this thread -- about Elton John & George Gershwin's respective approaches to "Which comes first, music or words? I came here, though to praise my "other 'new' favorite singer," who turns out to be a(nother) Canadian! A google and a wiki search informs that,

Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974) is a Canadian R&B singer-songwriter and actress. Her 1998 song "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here" held the record for longest-running number one single on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart (14 weeks), a record held for nearly eight years. She has achieved ten number-one hits on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart. She is often cited as Canada's top R&B artist.[2]

I admit I had to look her up! Yet another terrific singer I would never have heard of, if not for satellite radio. On yesterday

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It's a beautiful song, one I hadn't heard before. (That's rare, right?)

Here's your favorite Canadian chantoosey singing her version. Just beautiful.



I have a suspicion, though, that both she and Kenny Colman either aren't singing the original Porter lyric, or else this is a different song with the same title as the one Cole Porter wrote in 1937.

Why do I make this assumption?

Simple. Cole Porter would never have rhymed "heart" with "dark." The two words do not rhyme.

On further reflection, this is not a Cole Porter song. Yes, he wrote a song with that title for the 1937 show Rosalie, but a quick glance at The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter shows a very different lyric.

So who really wrote this lovely, non-Porter, song?

LCK
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Quote Originally Posted by LCK View Post

On further reflection, this is not a Cole Porter song. Yes, he wrote a song with that title for the 1937 show Rosalie, but a quick glance at The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter shows a very different lyric.

So who really wrote this lovely, non-Porter, song?

LCK
Further research shows that the 1937 version of Rosalie was a movie. The original -- produced on Broadway in 1928 -- had songs by the Gershwins, including one of my favorites, "How Long Has This Been Going on?" The only memorable song from the film was Porter's "In the Still of the Night."

LCK
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