Favorite Gershwin tune?

[populistmom]

Poll question: Favorite Gershwin tune?

Finding myself 3 credits short in Humanities, I'm taking a music appreciation 101 type course this semester. Much to my shock and dismay :wow: , when the instructor play Rhapsody in Blue, I was the only person who even knew it was a Gershwin tune. Anyone else out there appreciate this stuff? (One thing I thank my crazy mom, an amateur classical pianist, for is a nice appreciation for earlier 20th century music.)

I'd have to say my favorite lyrical Gershwin tune is:

Someone to Watch Over Me

There's a saying old, says that love is blind
Still we're often told, "seek and ye shall find"
So I'm going to seek a certain lad I've had in mind

Looking everywhere, haven't found him yet
He's the big affair I cannot forget
Only man I ever think of with regret

I'd like to add his initial to my monogram
Tell me, where is the shepherd for this lost lamb?

There's a somebody I'm longin' to see
I hope that he, turns out to be
Someone who'll watch over me

I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood
I know I could, always be good
To one who'll watch over me

Although he may not be the man some
Girls think of as handsome
To my heart he carries the key

Won't you tell him please to put on some speed
Follow my lead, oh, how I need
Someone to watch over me


Won't you tell him please to put on some speed
Follow my lead, oh, how I need
Someone to watch over me

Someone to watch over me

I'll post my favorites int he poll. Feel free to add your own.

Yes, I am a geeky chick trapped in another time.

[jpgray]

1. Hmmm... "It Ain't Necessarily So?" (nt)

[Karenina]

14. The things that you're liable

to read in the Bible
It ain't necessarily so...

[alwynsw]

2. I like almost anything Geroge wrote.

And the lyrics by his lovely wife Ira are captivating.

[mac56]

4. Joking, right?

;-)

[alwynsw]

5. Only your musician knows for sure.

Thanks, Clairol.

[tishaLA]

3. The Man I Love

[populistmom]

9. Oh, I forgot that one

Someday he'll come along, the man I love
And he'll be big and strong, the man I love
And when he comes my way
I'll do my best to make him stay

He'll look at me and smile,
I'll understand
And in a little while he'll take my hand
And though it seems absurd
I know we both won't say a word

Maybe I shall meet him Sunday
Maybe Monday, maybe not
Still I'm sure to meet him one day
Maybe Tuesday will be my good news day

He'll build a little home, just meant for two
From which we'll never roam; Who would, would you?
And so all else above I'm waiting for the man I love

Yes, this one's a keeper too! :)

[randr]

6. Rhapsody in Blue

Written as he played it on the night his father died.

[Padraig18]

7. That would also be my choice!

You have good musical taste. :)

[alwynsw]

8. The "Written at the last possible minute" wonder piece?

George procrastinated worse than I do.

And yes, Virginia, it's a wonderful piece.

[Occulus]

24. Actually, he wasn't procrastinating.

From the "Foreword: of my "Rhapsody" piano score:

It was while George Gershwin was putting the finishing touches on the score of "Sweet Little Devil" back in 1923, just prior to its Boston opening, that Paul Whiteman asked him to compose "something" for his epoch-making concert of symphonic jazz at Aeolian Hall on Lincoln's Birthday in 1924. Gershwin, at the moment, was against it and, indeed, had almost forgotten about it were it not for the shock of learning from an item in the New York Herald Tribune early in 1924 that he, Gershwin, was busy on a symphony for the much-heralded Whiteman concert.

Here, indeed, was a challenge which could only be answered by "doing something about it." The symphony idea was definitely out. Gershwin originally thought of doing a conventional "blues" and let it go at that, but he realized that something more important was at stake, and promptly set to work with a purpose. He decided to aim what he wrote at a misconception regarding the inflexibility of jazz rhythms. He worked a composition out in his mind and in three weeks turned out the "Rhapsody in Blue."

---

The Rhapsody in Blue was a complete accident. It was never meant to be :)

[alwynsw]

25. It's possible.

I'm dredging up memories from a college class in which it was discussed. Music major and all that. I'm a grampa now, so the memory may not be what it once was.

[Raenelle]

10. Also my choice

[Mass_Liberal]

13. definetly Rhapsody in Blue

one of the best songs of all time.

[salin]

19. My choice as well... one of my all time instrumental favorites

[VelmaD]

11. I voted "Fascinatin' Rhythm" because...

it was so much fun to play back in jazz band in high school. Lots of tricky syncopation. One of those songs that just gets you bouncing and your feet tapping. :-)

[oxymoron]

12. The Nearness of You

It's not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me, oh no
It's just the nearness of you

It isn't your sweet conversation
That brings this sensation, oh no
It's just the nearness of you

When you're in my arms and I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true

I need no soft lights to enchant me
If you'll only grant me the right
To hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night the nearness of you

[NightTrain]

15. I think only one of the Gershwins wrote it, but I love "Summertime."

Of course, the version I like best is Billy Stewart's soulful deconstruction from 1966, but what the hey!

[MrScorpio]

21. Summertime, and the livin' is easy

The fish are jumpin' and cotton is high.
You daddy's rich and your mama's good looking
Now hush, pretty baby, don't you cry

[arwalden]

16. "It’s nice work if you can get it"

Loving one who loves you
And then taking that vow
It’s nice work if you can get it
And if you get it, won’t you tell me how?

[tishaLA]

17. I forgot--"Our Love Is Here to Stay" and "'S Wonderful," too!

Our Love is Here to Stay

It's very clear, our love is here to stay
Not for a year but ever and a day
The radio and the telephone and the movies that we know
May just be passing fancies and in time may go

But oh, my dear, our love is here to stay
Together we're going a long, long way
In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble
They're only made of clay
But our love is here to stay

In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble
They're only made of clay
But our love is here to stay

'S Wonderful

S Wonderful Lyrics

Verse: Don't mind telling you, in my humble fash
That you thrill me through, with a tender pash,
When you said you care, 'magine my emoshe
I swore then and there, permanent devoshe,
You made all other men seem blah
Just you alone filled me with ahhhhhhhh......

's wonderful, 's marvellous
you should care for me!
's awful nice, 's paradise,
's what I love to see.

You've made my life so glamorous,
You can't blame me for feeling amorous!
Oh 's wonderful, 's marvellous,
That you should care for me!

's magnificque, 's what I seek
You should care for me.
's elegant, 's what I want,
's what I love to see.

My dear, it's four leaved clover time,
From now on my heart's working overtime,
's exceptional, 's no bagatelle,
That you should care for...
That you should care for...
That you should care for me.......

On Edit: Oooooops. S Wonderful is there! But I'll keep the lyrics here cause they are so good.

[saltpoint]

18. Just about all his stuff is great --

-- but I'll take the Preludes. It's a piano solo & it's really terrific. Bluesy, late-night jazz/classical feel to it.

[mitchum]

20. All of the above...

and "My Man is Gone Now"

[Zomby Woof]

22. Robb is a dingbat

The great lost Gershwin poll tune.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

23. They Can't Take That Away from Me

The way you wear your hat
The way you sip your tea
The memory of all that
No, no they can't take that away from me

The way your smile just beams
The way you sing off key
The way you haunt my dreams
Oh, no they can't take that away from me

We may never, never meet again, on this bumpy road to love
Still I'll always, always keep the memory of

The way you hold your knife
The way we danced till three
The way you changed my life
Oh No they can't take that away from me
No, they can't take that away from me