…..One of my favorite shows is “Kiss Me Kate”, based on Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.” And my favorite song in that show is “Where is the life that late I led” sung by Petruchio after he marries Kate. I do remember all the lyrics which I recreate here for your entertainment and enlightenment, and I find this number particularly appropriate for my current station in life:
FROM "KISS ME KATE"
“Where is the life that late I led; where is it now?—Totally dead!
Where is my Becky, my Becky-Weccio; still selling pizza by the slice
In Ponte Vecchio?
And where’s Rosellio, that fierce virago, who fled to me from
Trinidad-Tobago?
Where is Carmen, from Venezuela
Alcoholic sailor?
And where is Ruthie, my English cuzzin? Still favoring
Her suitors by the dozen?
Where’s Alfonsina from sweet Firenze , whose flirting
Always put me in a frenzy?
And Sister Carla, also from Florence
Rained on me in torrents?
Now there was Rhoda--beneath the cover. So voluptuous
I still cannot recover.
And Filomena, from friendly Venice
Like she played a game of tennis.
So, now, where is the life that late I led? Where is it now?
Totally dead! Come—kiss me, Kate
Not bad, eh. I told you that I remembered all the lyrics. Now, who was it that wrote this show? Where is he now? Oh! Cole Porter? Forgive me, Cole, for changing the lyrics a bit.
That's easy, Baron. It was written by Cole Porter, cousin to Cole Slaw, an Eli of great renown. KMK is reported to have the most hit songs of any Broadway show, and I believe it. The Spewacks wrote the book.
ReplyDeleteIt is not well-known that Cole Slaw, er Porter, lost a leg years after a serious riding accident; he never found it. It is also not well-known that he was gay, as in closeted homosexual. The Baron, of course, knows all this plus much more.
Porter died sometime in the 60s but he left an unparalleled legacy. Imo, no other composer had so many lasting hits (not even Rogers, Hammerstein, or Jerome Kern, all Columbia blues). I saw every possible show he wrote, including OUT OF THIS WORLD (a relative flop); ANYTHING GOES (back on Broadway again); SILK STOCKINGS; LES GIRLS; CAN-CAN; DU BARRY WAS A LADY; and every film in which his songs were featured.
Sam (another Columbia man) and Bella Spewack were not as famous as Porter but wrote a play, MY THREE ANGELS that was made into a film, WE'RE NO ANGELS, which starred Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Aldo Ray--that's three to draw to.
Bella outlived Sam by about 20 years; I remember seeing her interviewed on TV by Dick Cabbage (Cavett?), another Yalie. Bella was born in the 19th Century so you cannot expect her to be alive today, BUT she came from Transylvania so you never know.
All this is from memory so there may be a mistake or two, but the core is accurate, or so I believe.
WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT MY SUITORS?? FOR GOD'S SAKE, DON'T LET MY HUSBAND KNOW, OR WAR WILL BREAK OUT IN SHEFFIELD!!!
ReplyDeleteMusical members of the Baron's family and band of friends should read a book called "Funny, it doesn't sound Jewish," by the late Jack Gottlieb, who helped Leonard Bernstein with "West Side Story" and who also composed lots of sacred and secular stuff himself. It is subtitled "How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood." Even if you can't read music, you can still hack this book, because you can see the musical comparison examples moving in parallel up and down the staves. Read it and be proud!
Baron - my favourite song from "Kiss me Kate" is not a very original choice! It's "Brush up your Shakespeare."
Forgot to say, Gottlieb wanted to put the book on CD-Rom, but could not get the necessary permissions to play the musical examples. But anyone can quote, without permission, phrases of music on the page in musical notation: so that is what he was forced to do. So, in using musical notation, he wasn't trying to be snooty and elitist. It's an important point, because it marks him as a mensh and not a poseur.
ReplyDeleteLove it!
ReplyDeleteYes, dear friend PB...Cole Porter is my man! But I make no apologies for compromising his lyrics with my own.
ReplyDelete