Episode 151. Cole Porter

Episode 151. Cole Porter [Pride 2022]

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Because I’m still on the road, I’m posting an old bonus episode in place of a new one this week, and I’m posting it early. This was originally published about two years ago, in tandem with an episode that did on Cesare Siepi, which highlighted Easy to Love, his 1958 album of Cole Porter songs. Among my listeners, most of whom adored that episode, there were a few naysayers, including my own not-boyfriend, who felt that Siepi did not do justice to Porter’s insouciant wordplay. So I decided, as one of my first bonus episodes, to offer an “antidote” to Siepi’s song stylings. This is the episode that resulted. It features a wide range of performers, from Mabel Mercer to kd lang (many of them coincidentally queer), offering their own distinctive take on Porter’s brilliant output. Many of the songs are offered in contrasting versions, including Fred Astaire singing “Night and Day” in his original recording from the 1930s, followed by his 1950s version with a jazz combo led by Oscar Peterson. Or Ethel Merman singing her original recording of “I Get a Kick out of You” from the time of the original production of Anything Goes, followed by her infamous version decades later from The Ethel Merman Disco Album. Please enjoy and I’ll see you again at the end of next week.

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

From Nymph Errant:

Experiment. Mabel Mercer; Cy Walter, Stan Freeman

Experiment. Patricia Hodge; Arranged and conducted by Donald Pippin [live, Drury Lane Theatre (London) 21 May 1989]

From Jubilee:

Begin the Beguine. Cesare Siepi, The Roland Shaw Orchestra

Begin the Beguine. Johnny Mathis

From Born to Dance:

I’ve Got You under My Skin. Virginia Bruce; Eddie Ward’s MGM Orchestra

I’ve Got You under My Skin [Vous faites partie de moi]. Joséphine Baker

I’ve Got You under My Skin. Eileen Farrell; Percy Faith and His Orchestra

From Gay Divorce:

Night and Day. Fred Astaire; Leo Reisman Orchestra

Night and Day. Fred Astaire; Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Alvin Stoller, Barney Kessel, Charlie Shavers

From Something to Shout About:

You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To. Janet Blair, Don Ameche

You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To. Helen Merrill; Instrumental trio. [Festival de Jazz d’Antibes Juan-les-Pins, France, July 1960]

From Rosalie:

In the Still of the Night. Nelson Eddy

In the Still of the Night. Janet Blair, Orchestra conducted by Paul Weston [from Johnny Mercer’s Music Shop radio program, 1944]

From Born to Dance:

Easy to Love. Frances Langford; Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra

From Anything Goes:

I Get a Kick out of You. Ethel Merman; Johnny Green and His Orchestra

SONY DSC

I Get a Kick out of You. Ethel Merman; Arranged by Peter Matz

From Nymph Errant:

The Physician. Gertrude Lawrence

The Physician. Lisa Kirk; Arranged and conducted by Donald Pippin [live, Drury Lane Theatre (London) 21 May 1989]

From Kiss Me, Kate:

Always True to You in My Fashion. Lisa Kirk; Orchestra conducted by Pembroke Davenport

Always True to You in My Fashion. Julie Wilson; Orchestra conducted by Freddie Bretherton

Wunderbar. Patricia Morison, Alfred Drake; Orchestra conducted by Pembroke Davenport

So in Love. Patricia Morison; Orchestra conducted by Pembroke Davenport

So in Love. Alfred Drake; Orchestra conducted by Pembroke Davenport

So in Love. kd lang

From The New Yorkers:

Love for Sale. Elisabeth Welch; Jonathan Cohen [live, Donmar Warehouse (London), August 1986]

From You Never Know:

At Long Last Love. Lena Horne; Lennie Hayton and His Orchestra

At Long Last Love. Bobby Short; Jerry Brandford, Scott Robinson, Frank Tate, Klaus Suonsaari, Loren Schoenberg, Eddie Bert, Bobby Pring, Daryl Shaw, John Eckert, Virgil Jones

From Red, Hot and Blue:

Down in the Depths. Mabel Mercer; Buddy Barnes [live Town Hall 18 May 1969]

Down in the Depths. Kaye Ballard (impersonating Mabel Mercer). Arranged by Skip Redwine [from Ben Bagley’s The Decline and Fall of the Entire World as Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter]

Cut from Can-Can:

Who Said Gay Paree? Cole Porter

From Wake Up and Dream.

What Is this Thing Called Love?. Hutch [Leslie Hutchinson]

What Is this Thing Called Love? / From Seven Lively Arts: Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye. Julie Wilson; William Roy

From Seven Lively Arts:

Everytime We Say Goodbye. Annie Lennox

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