Rodgers and Hammerstein vs Rodgers and Hart

[MrScorpio]

Poll question: Rodgers and Hammerstein vs Rodgers and Hart

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear MrScorpio!

I voted for Rogers and Hammerstein because their musicals are better known to me than Rodgers and Hart.

Although if you named some from the second pair, I'd probably know them too...

:hi:

[MrScorpio]

2. There were a lot of classics either way

But you're right, the Rodgers and Hammerstein stuff was much cooler

[Graybeard]

3. I like the Rodgers and Hart songs better.

For musical shows Rodgers and Hammerstein.

For great songs Rodgers and Hart.

The Hart lyrics are sophisticated, witty and a lot less sentimental and stand on their own. Both teams were genius no doubt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodgers_and_Hart

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodgers_and_Hammerstein

....

[UTUSN]

4. I voted for R&H - am I WRONG?1 n/t

[Captain Hilts]

6. So long as you include Rogers, it's correct...

[Captain Hilts]

5. Hammerstein. And, I LOVE Rogers' "Victory at Sea."

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. We have "Victory at Sea" on DVD...

It's amazing, and mostly for the incredible music!

:hi:

[Captain Hilts]

12. The music is great. I hope you're feeling better!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. My dear Captain Hilts!

I love the music...

And thank you, yes, I am feeling much better...nothing like having your heart rhythm return to normal!

[Lionel Mandrake]

17. Victory at Sea was unique.

The music was most of the sound track. It was coordinated with the video in a way you don't see anymore.

There was very little talking, but Leonard Graves read his lines with utter conviction and a certain preachiness that is characteristic of a bygone era. In my mind's ear, I can hear him saying something like: "And now ... JUNGLE HELL" . (There was no episode with that title, but there could have been.)

[Captain Hilts]

27. Yes!! "One thing they didn't count on...THE US NAVY..." and so forth. nt

[gratuitous]

7. The major difference, according to Rodgers

I forget which was which, but I think Hammerstein was taller than Hart, and Rodgers was of a height between the two. When he was with Hammerstein, he often heard people say that the tall guy was okay, but watch out for that short bastard. When he was teamed with Hart, it was all right to trust the short guy, but that tall son of a bitch bore watching.

[Graybeard]

9. Yes, Hart was the short one.

So short in fact that in the 1948 film about their partnership, "Words and Music", Lorenz Hart is played by Mickey Rooney.

[valerief]

8. Here's the real dilemma: R&H vs. Cole Porter! nt

[grasswire]

16. an informed comment

What say you? I'm having a real hard time making a choice on this one.

[valerief]

19. Hart's lyrics vs. Porter's lyrics? Hmm, that's a tough one.

Hart is clever but Porter is witty. Hell, both are clever and witty! Must move to the music, I guess.

Early Rodgers vs. Porter. I think I'm partial to Porter. Can't get Begin the Beguine out of my head right now.

I love all their work, but since Porter did double-duty, I'll have to say skoal to Cole.

[grasswire]

24. I came to that conclusion while away from computer

I decided that since Cole did words and music that he wins. A genius. So many beautiful melodies, so many touching lyrics. And so many millions of hearts moved by it all. Think of "So in love with you am I" ----- wow!

[Lionel Mandrake]

20. "Love for Sale"

A Cole Porter song that became a jazz standard. Great tune. Great lyrics.

[valerief]

23. Yep, that's a great one. Laziest Gal in Town and Why Can't You Behave come to mind, too. nt

[CTyankee]

32. "I'd give up drinking coffee for Sanka,

even Sanka, Bianca, for you!"

gotta love a guy that could write THAT line...

[CTyankee]

22. No dilemma to me. I've got Ella Fitzgerald singing both!

As to Rodgers and Hart v. Rodgers and Hammerstein, I think it is a matter of preference. Hart was for the typical New Yorker audience, not the out of towner. Hammerstein moved into the broader, popular appeal. Hart had a more New York "edge." Hammerstein was more "Americanized", e.g. the rest of the country. Also, Hart wrote in a different decade with a different feel. Audiences liked their "Oklahoma!", "South Pacific," and "Carousel" postwar and they were easily made into popular movies. A few of Hart's were made, of course, but look what happened to the naughtiness of Pal Joey once it got made into a movie?

[grasswire]

25. I bought Ella sings Cole Porter decades ago.

It is perfectly crafted, and in the era prior to digitalized tinkering. I wore out the LP.

[Captain Hilts]

30. I also have "My Cole Porter" by Sinatra. I wore that one out too. nt

[CTyankee]

31. I used to have Bobby Short's LPs of Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter and Noel Coward..

That was back in the 70s. My kids were teens at the time and thought I was just plain weird...

[Captain Hilts]

29. Me too! Ella was THE coolest woman of the 20th Century. Slightly more than ER. nt

[valerief]

33. Ha! Me, too. Gotta rummage around my CDs now. nt

[Captain Hilts]

28. Now, that's a tough one. I lean toward Porter on that one...nt

[MilesColtrane]

11. Rodgers and Hammerstein

Setting aside their superior commercial success still leaves a song like "You've Got to be Carefully Taught", which would be for the win.


You've got to be taught
To hate and fear
You've got to be taught
From year to Year
It's got to be drummed
in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught
To be Afraid
Of people whose eyes
are oddly made
And people whose skin
Is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught
Before it's too late
Before you are 6 or 7 or 8
To hate all the people
your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught

[peekaloo]

13. 'My Funny Valentine' immediately comes to mind.

so it's Rodgers & Hart

[NYCGirl]

15. Rogers & Hart, witty and sophisticated. Rogers & Hammerstein, syrupy.

With only a few exceptions.

[blueraven95]

18. I voted Rodgers and Hart

but I like them both.

I chose Rodgers and Hart mostly because I adore the songs from Boys from Syracuse and I love "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" from Pal Joey, among others.

If, however the vote was between either Rodgers pairing and Cole Porter, I would pick Porter, particularly "Anything Goes."

[valerief]

21. This Can't Be Love is a FABULOUS song!!!! nt

[grasswire]

36. tricky lyrics

I had to dance AND sing this one at the same time in a chorus line. Yikes.


If you're blue
And you don't know
Where to go to
Why don't you go
Where fashion sits?
Puttin' on the ritz

Different types
Who wear a day
Coat; pants with stripes
And cutaway coat
Perfect fits
Puttin' on the ritz

the immortal Irving Berlin

[grasswire]

26. and nobody mentioned Irving Berlin!

Another genius.

[valerief]

34. And Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington.

They go on and on. Wonderful music!

[valerief]

35. Neat site with lyrics from the great popular songwriters.

http://www.thepeaches.com/music/composers/