Dear friends, we thank you for the prayers for our daughter, Jessica.
In the nearly two years since Tony and I began Word & Song, I’ve written about George Gershwin at least five times. And here I am again, with another Gershwin tune. But as those of you who follow Sometimes a Song know, I like to let the song round out our other essays of the week. This time the title of our Film of the Week, “Song of Love,” no doubt jiggled open the “S” drawer of my mental filing cabinet, and what came fell out was the opening lyric of the sweetly sad “But Not for Me”:
They’re writing songs of love, but not for me.
A lucky star’s above, but not for me.
Most folks “in the musical know” regard “But not for Me” as a rather simple tune — simple for Gershwin, at least — but I’d call it an elegantly simple song. I’ve heard that George Gershwin carried around in his head a near-endless number of full tunes, refrains, and musical bits and pieces, always ready to use when he needed them. Mr. Gerswin’s habit was to deliver the tune to his brother, Ira, fully realized, and to let Ira write a lyric to suit the music. From time to time they did their composing the other way around, but I can imagine, also, Ira delivering to George a line he had thought of, knowing that George would create for it a tune which would give him a direction for the full lyric. Either way, the two were quite a team for bringing together the perfect music with unforgettable lyrics. “But Not for Me” is a bluesy ballad, a torch song with a light touch, which tells the all-too-familiar story of unrequited love.
The Gershwins wrote our song as part of the score for a musical play called “Girl Crazy,” in 1930. Of the many memorable Gershwin tunes from this play, “But Not for Me” has truly stood the test of time, with to date over 770 commercial recordings made by a variety of artists from Ginger Rogers —who premiered this song and the truly fine “Embraceable You” in the female lead — to Judy Garland, Doris Day, Jo Stafford, Ella Fitzgerald (winner of a Grammy for the song in 1961), Sarah Vaughn and even Kate Smith and Yvonne de Carlo (yes, Lily Munster of television fame); and to male singers from Sammy Davis to Tony Bennet, Frank Sinatra, Wayne Newton, Elton John and beyond. “Girl Crazy” made overnight stars of both Ginger Rogers and a relatively unknown singer named Ethel Merman, who followed up “Girl Crazy” with a 50-year career of belting out show tunes on and off Broadway. Miss Merman’s big hit of the show was the now-legendary, “I Got Rhythm,” which many of us best remember as a featured song for Gene Kelly’s dance number in “An American in Paris.”
Great music was indeed cookin’ in 1930, as evidenced by the names of the pit musicians who played for this rather short-lived play with a rather pedestrian “book” and plot: Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, both of the Dorsey brothers, Red Nichols and a host of other fine jazz musicians of the day. Imagine being at the Alvin Theatre on October 14, 1930, with such musicians performing in the pit and the great George Gershwin himself directing! Sublime.
And to gild the lily, here is the deeply emotive version recorded by young Judy Garland, who played the female lead in a film revision of “Girl Crazy” in 1943. In this recording you hear the verse as well as the song.
And speaking of lilies, here IS Yvonne de Carlo doing her version of the song. See what you think!
Word & Song by Anthony Esolen is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymns, poems, films, and popular songs, as well a weekly podcast for paid subscribers, Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. Paid subscribers also receive audio-enhanced posts and access to our full archive and to comments and discussions. We value all of our subscribers, and we thank you for reading Word and Song!
Debra: Add to your list, the overtures to South Pacific, Music Man, and Oklahoma. Stunning synopses to set the mood and to anticipate.
Speaking of lilies! I see what you did there.🤣