![]() He was worried that his voice might crack. Still, Astaire was troubled by the title phrase:Įarlier Astaire songs such as "Fascinating Rhythm" had never required Fred to hold notes. Having moved off G, the chorus doesn't go too far, moving up a minor third rather than a fourth for the release, and staying in mid-range in order not to discombobulate a star who had to save his energies for leaping and twirling around the stage. Porter thought the audience would hear that, even if Max Dreyfus and Monty Woolley and Fred Astaire couldn't. The verse is unrelenting because, as Porter (played by Kevin Kline) says in the 2004 biopic De-Lovely!, it's about obsession. Porter was struck by the thought, and extended it: The drip-drip-drip and the beat-beat-beat and the tick-tick-tock are driving me mad. That bit's nothing to do with the muezzin calling the faithful but rather with Mrs Vincent Astor complaining about a post-rainstorm aural distraction at a luncheon party at Newport, Rhode Island: "That drip-drip-drip is driving me mad," she snapped. After the beat-beat-beat and the tick-tick-tock, Porter takes it up just half a tone for the drip-drip-drip: Obviously, the tune is taking its cue from the lyric, and very effectively. G after G after G, for 35 notes in a row: The beginning of the song ranges from G to G. Actually, "range" may be overstating things. And neither did Fred Astaire, who'd signed on to The Gay Divorce after Porter played him the show's "other" ballad, "After You, Who?", but objected to "Night And Day" and demanded it be dropped.Ĭole, normally so accommodating of star whims, put his foot down: Aside from being inspired by the Muslim call to prayer, the song had also been crafted for Astaire's voice, and range. It's terrible." The show's co-producer, Tom Weatherly, didn't care for it. His buddy Monty Woolley stuck with it to the chorus and then told Cole, "'I don't know what you're trying to do, but whatever it is, throw it away. ![]() His publisher Max Dreyfus heard the bass notes under the first line of the verse and decided the song would never catch on. Which is very different from the autumn of 1932, when a lot of key Cole Porter associates tired of "Night and Day" within 16 bars. The song stayed with Sinatra every which way for over half a century, and he never tired of it in all those years. ![]() On the Hit Parade, Eddie Duchin and Astaire himself, with Leo Reisman's orchestra, both had instant hits: Like the tick tick tock of the stately clockĪnd when Fred and Claire Luce finished dancing dreamily over the furniture, the first-nighters erupted. But when Astaire started to sing, even the chinchillas ceased their infernal din: And, if you're wondering what a "professional co-respondent" is, that just proves that not everything about The Gay Divorce holds up as well as "Night And Day". The plot of The Gay Divorce was about the guy (Fred) loving the gal (Claire Luce), but she thinks he's the professional co-respondent in her divorce case. They ran up and down the aisles (talking to each other) - that upset the critics and us on the stage - and it was a little tough to get the plot of the show across. The swells were really out that night, very elegant, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, nothing but white ties, chinchillas, jewels. Wow! Imagine being present that evening and getting in on the ground floor not just of any old hit song but of one of the ten most popular songs of the 20th century! So what did the crowd make of it that first night? As Astaire recalled it, they were a little distracted: Within weeks it had hit Number One, and remained America's bestselling record well into 1933, ninety years ago, all the way to the end of February. But it was on November 29th 1932 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre that "Night And Day" was formally unveiled to the world. History does not record whether any Moroccan imams were present eighty-two-and-a-third years back to return the favor and hear Broadway summon the faithful to Fred Astaire. Not the Middle East, not the middle west, not the middle anything, but the heights - the height of a particular kind of New York sophistication and elegance: parquet, cocktails, the rustle of gowns. Morocco-wise, it seems more attuned to the country's nocturnal near namesake in Manhattan: "The crowds at El Morocco punish the parquet," as Porter wrote on another occasion. If so, it must rank as Islam's greatest contribution to American popular music (along with " What Is This Thing Called Love?"). Well, that's the way Cole Porter told it, some of the time: His biggest hit was supposedly inspired by hearing the muezzin summon the faithful in Morocco during one of Cole's Mediterranean wanderings. Only you beneath the moon and under the sun. Question: What's the connection between the Muslim call to prayer and Fred Astaire?
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