As a lover and student of musicals and Broadway shows, I am always seeking after something new, some new sound or approach to music for the stage. With the new sounds of today, replete with rock beats, synthesized technopop, and music to reach a younger generation, I often return to the past in spite of my desire for the new. After all, great melodies are still great melodies, and interesting harmony remains fresh even after multiple hearings. Maintaining that for art to survive the test of time, it must reach beyond the simple and into the creative, I often find myself returning to the amazing songs of Cole Porter.
Trained as a classical musician and pianist, Cole Porter began writing songs at an early age. Not necessarily a prodigy but certainly displaying great genius throughout his life, Cole Porter wrote his own music and lyrics primarily for the theater. An up and down career that included as many failures as successes, Cole Porter's heritage is that of wonderfully clever songs and harmonic experimentation. He somehow overcame the many failures in his career to keep his name alive and his music authentic for today. In spite of his colorful lifestyle and lack of fidelity, he did remain paradoxically devoted to his wife who died several years before his own death at the age of 75. Able to separate my own rather judgmental principles from the quality of his work, I hold the music of Cole Porter in high regard for its complexity, its interest, its personal expression, and its blend of earthy and sophistication. This is music for the people and the many wonderful songs deserve a place among the finest in music theater.
Songs such as In the Still of the Night, Brush Up Your Shakespeare, Be a Clown, Let's Fall in Love, Blow Gabriel Blow, and So in Love stand out as meaningful, clever, intriguing, and energetic. Other songs such as Begin the Beguine, You're the Top, and Always True to You in My Fashion have charm and wit demonstrating how human foibles can become triumphs. Musically he used rhythm to make the text jump out and explode with meaning and he continually matched the inflections of the text with the punctuation of the music. Aside from the veiled sexual referencs found in many of his lyrics, his songs are fun and pleasing, capturing the shimmering glow of life in each phrase.
Why does a song like Night and Day continue to be a regular part of many professional singers repertoire? I believe it is due to the inside rhythmic energy, the text, and to the harmonic experimentation. Every time we hear it, we hear something new and it keeps our interest over a long period of time. Far from using three chords, Cole Porter moves in and out of the established key, leaving us breathless with anticipation over the next sound. With a free use of augmented chords, sevenths, ninths, and chromatic alteration, Night and Day moves at a fast harmonic pace that leaves no doubt that Cole Porter was the master of harmony. After an odd verse of repeated notes over strange chords, the chorus begins with a chord that is far removed from the key of Eb. The melody states a major 7 over the chord of B, followed by a Bb7 which then leads us nicely to the tonic. Rather than stating the obvious, Cole Porter uses the altered flat 6th of the key to move chromatically to the dominant in a kind of text painting of darkness moving to light. All great stuff and musically intriguing, making Night and Day a wonderful song for all time.
So my admiration for the music of Cole Porter reigns high as I continue to be a student of musicals. While Kiss Me Kate is not necessarily my favorite plot, I love the music from beginning to end. Anything Goes is another winner and both have enjoyed successful revivals recently. If you are looking for some great old songs, turn to Cole Porter. He is the top.
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