1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,960 (PIANO INTRO) 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,320 I've always been as long as I can remember 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,760 completely and utterly obsessed with songs. 4 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,240 In love with the idea of songs, 5 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:19,200 what you can say in songs. 6 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,120 The really great writers 7 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:25,920 can convey so many feelings in a song, 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:27,960 put across so many emotions 9 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,000 and tell so many stories 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:31,960 in just three minutes. 11 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,040 For me, the best songs ever written 12 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:41,200 are part of what is called the Great American Songbook. 13 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,960 You'd be amazed how many of them you know. 14 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:48,240 This is the music that flourished on America's east coast 15 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:50,320 in the '20s and '30s 16 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,960 when the art of songwriting reached its peak. 17 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,360 Songs written by the likes of Cole Porter, 18 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,320 Fats Waller and George Gershwin. 19 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,160 It didn't matter what colour you were, 20 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,200 the song transcended 21 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,160 through the music. 22 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,680 They combined new rhythms, new harmonies 23 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:11,760 and clever lyrics. 24 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,680 # We'll bathe in Brighton, the fish we'll frighten 25 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:16,760 # When you are in your bathing suit... 26 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:18,840 And the very best of these songs 27 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:23,160 are the ones which explore that most powerful of all human emotions... 28 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,120 love. 29 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,720 They are expressions of desire, 30 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,440 beauty, aspiring to love, 31 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:33,800 the flush of first love. 32 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,200 These songs go on for time immemorial. 33 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,160 They are written by people who mapped every single contour 34 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:43,240 of the human heart. 35 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:45,640 And because they dealt with eternal truths 36 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:47,760 that's why they are timeless. 37 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,440 This has got to be 38 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,560 one of the world's most magical cities. 39 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:16,960 Who doesn't get the romance of New York? 40 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,240 I absolutely love this place. 41 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:24,480 The very first time I came to Manhattan 42 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,000 I was 29 years old. I was working on Radio One 43 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,480 and it was to interview the Rolling Stones. 44 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:31,560 That was an incredible trip. 45 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,200 Every time I come here is an amazing experience. 46 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,120 When I am in this bustling, crazy place, 47 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,560 I can't help but hear the soundtrack of '20s New York in my head. 48 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,680 Back then, this booming city was sprouting skyscrapers everywhere. 49 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,320 People with sounds from every continent were mixing together 50 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,200 to produce the world's greatest love songs. 51 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:03,800 I've chosen six of my favourites 52 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:05,880 which I believe 53 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:08,400 capture the essence of this wonderful genre 54 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,440 perfectly expressing 55 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,080 that most universal human emotion. 56 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:16,680 I'm sure you've been there. I have. 57 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:18,720 Falling in love, 58 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:20,800 that feeling of being in love 59 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,920 and also having a broken heart, falling out of love. 60 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:26,840 So these, in a sense, 61 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,800 are the songs of our lives. 62 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:35,600 The song that most beautifully captures this city's romantic spirit 63 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:37,920 is an often-recorded classic. 64 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,560 # We'll have Manhattan 65 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,920 # The Bronx and Staten Island too 66 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:50,600 # It's lovely going through 67 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:55,000 # The zoo... # 68 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,560 Listen to Ella Fitzgerald, loving the witty lyrics 69 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,440 in this delightfully sunny version of Manhattan. 70 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:07,200 # The subway charms us so 71 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,760 # When balmy breezes blow... # 72 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:17,320 The words tell a story 73 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:19,400 of a young couple who are so in love 74 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,440 that New York becomes a glorious playground. 75 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:27,760 # The great big city is a wondrous toy 76 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,280 # Made for a girl and boy 77 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:35,760 # We'll turn Manhattan 78 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,120 # Into our isle of joy # 79 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:45,680 The great and beautiful thing about that song 80 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,720 is that it turns everything into an isle of joy. 81 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:51,840 The humdrum, the hustle and bustle, 82 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:53,880 of the city, 83 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,040 just the ordinary stuff that goes on, 84 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,320 when you are in love, all that seems marvellous. 85 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:01,760 It turns the whole city into a paradise. 86 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:03,800 I mean, that line... 87 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,640 # The subway charms us so 88 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,040 # Where balmy breezes blow 89 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,080 # To and fro... 90 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,160 Balmy breeze in the subway? 91 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,280 That's just a blast of dirty dust in your face. 92 00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:18,320 But it becomes... 93 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:20,920 something so incredibly special. 94 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,000 And that is the nature of love. 95 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:26,120 Once I was in a love affair but it was never gonna happen. 96 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:28,160 It was folly, and I held out 97 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,200 that New York and Manhattan 98 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,240 was the place that we could 99 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:34,800 live out and fulfil our dreams. 100 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:39,000 And that song Manhattan really said it all for me. 101 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,040 But we didn't. 102 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,080 And life moved on. 103 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:45,040 And everyone is happy. 104 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,520 (HOOTER) 105 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,480 Why don't you go where you're looking? 106 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,360 In this early film version you can see it performed 107 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:00,440 just as audiences originally did 108 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:04,200 as what seems to us a rather hammy musical number on a theatre stage. 109 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,720 # A great success # Well, more or less 110 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,520 # Our future babies will take to... # 111 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,440 When they wrote Manhattan in 1925, 112 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,840 composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart 113 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:20,280 didn't hold out much hope for its success. 114 00:06:20,280 --> 00:06:22,960 They'd struggled for years to hit the big time. 115 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:25,400 The producers kept dismissing their lyrics 116 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:27,360 as far too clever for popular taste. 117 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:33,440 # I'd like to take a sail on Jamaica Bay with you 118 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,280 # And fair Canarsie's lakes 119 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:41,280 # We'll view # 120 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,280 Yet Manhattan's complex lyrics 121 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:47,360 were exactly what wowed audiences 122 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:49,680 and launched the pair on a stellar career 123 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,520 penning over 500 songs for both stage and screen. 124 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:56,800 # ..turn Manhattan into an isle of joy 125 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:58,760 # Boy # 126 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:06,080 But how do Lorenz Hart's groundbreaking rhymes hold up today? 127 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,000 One man who really knows about rhyme is Baba Brinkman, 128 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,800 a rap artist who specialises in literature. 129 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,000 He's given hip-hop treatment to everything from Chaucer 130 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,080 to Charles Darwin. 131 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:22,120 # I could even use this rhyme as a remedy 132 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:25,040 # Cos there's so much variation in the styles in this industry 133 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:27,600 # Differential survival when the people listening 134 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:30,600 # Decide what they are into and what really isn't interesting # 135 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,120 These lyrics by Lorenz Hart in Manhattan, 136 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,880 they were seen as revolutionary at the time. 137 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:40,960 As a rapper, what do you make of them now? 138 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,200 A lot of hip-hop is about trying to find a surprising rhyme 139 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,360 that no-one would naturally think of. 140 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:48,480 And the song really grabs your attention 141 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:50,560 right from the start with that. 142 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:54,400 There's an example where he says, "I want to go on Jamaica Bay with you 143 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:56,720 and then, "On Canarsie Lake we'll view". 144 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,240 That's like a seven syllable pattern 145 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:03,600 that seems to be not something you see in a lot of songs of the time. 146 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,520 But it's something that rappers do all the time now. 147 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,080 It's got to be a little bit of a forebearer to hip-hop in that way. 148 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:12,480 It's the multi-syllable rhyming patterns 149 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,560 that create the unexpected rhymes. 150 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:17,120 So if you were to show this lyric to Eminem 151 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:19,160 what do you think he'd make of it? 152 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:22,120 He'd recognise it as an innovation. 153 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:25,320 He'd probably try to flip some of the lyrics from the song 154 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:27,400 as a rap. 155 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:29,400 I'll do that. Go on then. 156 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,080 You can rock the beat with this. 157 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:34,120 In honour of Lorenz Hart. 158 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:36,960 Lorenz Hart, early hip-hop artist. 159 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:41,200 So we'll see how we can flip the verses from Manhattan. 160 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:13,160 Oy? 161 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:15,120 That's a New York expression. 162 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,320 There you go. It's hip-hop after all. 163 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,000 In the 1920s 164 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,120 relatively few people owned a radio. 165 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,200 Nobody had television. 166 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,600 Movies till the decade's end were silent. 167 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,120 So the best place to hear all the latest songs 168 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:41,200 was in the theatre. 169 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,200 And the pulsating heart of American theatre was New York's Broadway. 170 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,480 Broadway was where people came for their kicks and their entertainment. 171 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:56,560 And they still do. 172 00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:59,560 And it was a magnet for the extraordinary men and women 173 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:02,120 who wrote these sublime songs. 174 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:06,600 On Broadway a new kind of music was evolving 175 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:08,680 that mirrored the changing world. 176 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:11,400 And especially the changing rules of love. 177 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:15,880 Old traditions of chaperones and arranged marriages 178 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:17,840 were disappearing fast. 179 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:25,520 The 1920s was a time of... a new sexual freedom and licence 180 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:27,560 and also exploration. 181 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:29,640 After the war, 182 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:31,920 the jazz age, everything was shaken up, 183 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:33,960 and everything changed. 184 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,120 There was a writer called Elinor Glyn 185 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:39,880 who was actually seen as a bit of a dangerous liberal by some people. 186 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:42,560 But she wrote this book The Philosophy Of Love. 187 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:44,600 It's very tame now 188 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:46,800 but it warns of some of the dangers 189 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,360 implicit and explicit in the jazz age. 190 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:51,400 Here's a little passage. 191 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:53,480 "Our man is back from the war 192 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,440 and he has seen hundreds probably of "Jazz girls". 193 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:03,560 The jolly, noisy, smoking, slangy Jazz-band creature 194 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:06,760 only engages his most trivial attention. 195 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:12,600 He's not very likely to desire such a girl as a companion for life." 196 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:21,440 Unlike her parents' generation, 197 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:24,840 Jazz girl had more freedom to express her true feelings. 198 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:28,920 Not just the flap of fun and frivolity. 199 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:32,040 But also a yearning for true love. 200 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:36,640 That new emotional honesty was memorably set to music 201 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,120 by brothers George and Ira Gershwin. 202 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:43,800 In this song 203 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:45,840 we hear a jazz-age woman 204 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:47,920 longing to find her soul mate. 205 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:51,560 Sophie Tucker's early recording of The Man I love 206 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:53,520 is full of heartache. 207 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,120 # Some day he'll come along 208 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:03,640 # The man I love 209 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:06,440 # And he'll be big and strong 210 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,720 # The man I love 211 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,520 # And when he comes my way 212 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:16,080 # I'll do my best to make him stay... # 213 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:22,400 The Man I Love was written for Broadway in the 1920s. 214 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,960 And it's got a wonderfully bluesy quality. 215 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,680 It's a torch song. Listen to those bluesy chords 216 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:30,720 that George Gershwin wrote. 217 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,440 # Some day he'll come along 218 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:36,760 # The man I love 219 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,960 That change there from major to minor, it's just gorgeous. 220 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:42,920 # Pa-pa-pa-pa 221 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:45,880 # Pam-pa-pa-pa 222 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,320 The blues wasn't just about being sad. 223 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:55,320 It was a particular song form with African harmonies 224 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:57,520 that had evolved from the slave chants. 225 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,240 # ..this day 226 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:03,800 In this early talky featuring Bessie Smith, 227 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:05,840 the Empress of the Blues, 228 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:07,920 she pours her heart out 229 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:11,360 in a song style then mostly associated with African Americans. 230 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,800 But those sounds were beginning to reach a much wider audience. 231 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,840 In The Man I Love 232 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,920 George Gershwin took those bitter-sweet blues chords 233 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:31,320 to Broadway theatres, and, later, to film. 234 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:35,920 # He'll look at me and smile 235 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:38,400 # I'll understand 236 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:41,320 In this classic film noir, 237 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,600 chain-smoking lounge singer Ida Lupino 238 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:46,640 draws out its sultry bluesiness. 239 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:50,120 # And so all else above 240 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:55,320 # I'm waiting for the man... 241 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:01,000 # That I love # 242 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:10,400 It's interesting that Gershwin 243 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:14,080 and many of the songwriters who put jazz and blues into their music 244 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,040 were Jewish. 245 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:22,320 Perhaps they drew on similarities between traditional Jewish music, 246 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:25,520 lamenting exile, and the music of slaves 247 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,040 longing for distant African homelands. 248 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:33,480 Like so many New Yorkers, the Gershwins were an immigrant family. 249 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:36,360 They came from eastern Europe in the 1890s, 250 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,360 eventually settling in Manhattan's Jewish quarter 251 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,320 on the lower east side. 252 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,240 It looks a little different now 253 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,800 but it's still possible to find the Gershwin family home. 254 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:53,760 Ah, here we are. 255 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:58,040 253 is where George and Ira Gershwin lived 256 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,600 for four or five years when they were teenagers. 257 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:03,680 Those railings would have been there. 258 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,160 They would have come out every morning, 259 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,080 right here in the heart of the Jewish Rialto 260 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,160 the Jewish district. 261 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:14,680 And they would have seen something like this, 262 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:17,200 hustle, bustle, very, very busy. 263 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,760 Lots of markets, lots of people, lots of stimulation. 264 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:23,720 (CHOIR VOCALISES) 265 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:30,880 Young George Gershwin was immersed in a cacophony of sounds. 266 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:36,360 Traditional Jewish music sung in the synagogues... 267 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:38,320 (JEWISH MUSIC) 268 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,360 Yiddish theatre staging their own popular musicals. 269 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,680 The sounds and rhythms of jazz spreading everywhere 270 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,760 and not least, the noises of the city itself. 271 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:01,880 Gershwin was largely self taught 272 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,080 and he wrote music in all kinds of styles 273 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,040 for all kinds of instruments. 274 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:10,000 This is a roll for a pianola 275 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,360 which is this amazing musical contraption here. 276 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:15,400 I'm going to have to load it in 277 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,440 and then pedal like Billy-o. 278 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:20,000 Like a cross trainer. 279 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,080 And we'll be able to hear it. 280 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,880 It's one of the very first pieces of music that George Gershwin wrote 281 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:27,920 and he was 19 years old. 282 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,200 I'm just gonna load it up. 283 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,160 Right, here we go. 284 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,560 Gershwin began with this simple ragtime piece. 285 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:46,640 But within just seven years 286 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:51,000 he'd composed his orchestral masterpiece Rhapsody In Blue. 287 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:54,800 He teamed up with brother Ira to write their first Broadway musical 288 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,880 Lady Be Good. 289 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:00,160 It's this show that gave birth to my favourite Gershwin song. 290 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:06,120 # One day he'll come along 291 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:09,080 # The man I love... # 292 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:11,960 There is a heartbreaking vulnerability 293 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:14,720 in Judy Garland's radio broadcast of this song. 294 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,600 Particularly poignant because it was wartime. 295 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:22,240 # And when he comes my way... # 296 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:25,680 Singer Michael Feinstein was a close friend of Ira Gershwin 297 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,680 and knows more about Gershwin recordings than anyone. 298 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:32,800 If you asked George Gershwin what his favourite song was 299 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:34,960 he would tell you it was The Man I Love. 300 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,720 It's one of the greatest songs in popular music. 301 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:39,840 The Man I Love has a certain resonance 302 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:42,600 that is so special to so many people. 303 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:47,520 The Gershwin sound is iconic in that song 304 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,800 because it's all about the da-da-da-da-da-dee. 305 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:52,880 Da-da-da-dee. 306 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,040 That is called a blue note. Some day he'll come along... 307 00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:59,200 On the scale of a piano, that note, it's a flatted seven. 308 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,520 Gershwin used it over and over again as in Rhapsody In Blue. 309 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:06,160 (VOCALISES) There's so many songs where he uses that note 310 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:08,680 and the thing that is amazing is that he repeats it 311 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,000 time and time again in so many different songs 312 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,240 and it always sounds fresh and different. 313 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,320 What intrigues me is the passion in the music. 314 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:21,120 So what did George know about the complexities of love? 315 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:23,720 George was gregarious. 316 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:25,800 He was catnip to women. 317 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:27,840 Charismatic? Very charismatic. 318 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:31,400 And certainly the most eligible bachelor on Broadway. 319 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,600 If you were at a party and both the Gershwins were there, 320 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:38,560 George would be at the piano with showgirls on both sides of him. 321 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:41,840 But when it comes to George's personal life, 322 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,760 there is much mystery surrounding it. 323 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,200 He went into psychoanalysis for many, many years 324 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,320 but could not form a lasting relationship. 325 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,560 The closest thing he had was with Kay Swift. 326 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:57,640 A very talented composer. 327 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,040 And they were together for ten years. 328 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,080 Off and on. 329 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:04,120 But Kay Swift was married 330 00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:06,200 and she was not Jewish. 331 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,680 Eventually Kay got divorced, expecting George to marry her. 332 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:11,720 And he didn't. 333 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:13,760 So I think that George had... 334 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:15,840 hang-ups. 335 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,560 And I think he sought to have the same joy in life 336 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:20,600 that he had in his music 337 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:22,560 and it didn't happen. 338 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,480 George didn't end up with the woman he loved. 339 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:32,360 But instead, left us a fantastic legacy of haunting music. 340 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:40,480 All these great songs are ripe for multiple interpretations. 341 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,680 No wonder so many of today's singers, whatever their style or background, 342 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:46,720 can't resist them. 343 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:48,800 Pop icon Annie Lennox 344 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,280 is one of the latest with her aptly-named album Nostalgia. 345 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:58,200 # So hush little baby 346 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:07,240 # Don't you cry 347 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,080 The songs have longevity. 348 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,160 They last forever. 349 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,640 There's a certain kind of calibre that is lasting and classic 350 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:19,880 and people keep referring to it 351 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,920 because its achievement is so particularly great 352 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,440 that it's a standard, like a gold standard. 353 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:29,800 You're right. The music and the words is just so perfectly married. 354 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,120 As a songwriter yourself, you must think, 355 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:36,200 "Oh, they nailed it." 356 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,600 Sweet. I just think, ooh, sweet, you know. 357 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:40,680 It's the articulation of the heart. 358 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:43,400 I think a lot of these songs really are about... 359 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:45,880 they are expressions of the human condition 360 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:47,920 and they go on for time immemorial. 361 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:49,960 We all feel... 362 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:52,000 desire, 363 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,440 loss, sometimes despair. 364 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:56,840 Beauty, aspiring to love. 365 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:58,880 The flush of first love. 366 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:00,960 All these kind of subtle things, 367 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,080 it's like a whole, how do you say, a spectrum. 368 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:06,160 It is. 369 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,600 But it's in three minutes. And there it is. 370 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:10,680 So it is like a fabulous... 371 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:13,240 It's like a 1930s cocktail. It's all mixed up 372 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,760 and poured into this exquisite glass and then you get to drink it. 373 00:21:26,820 --> 00:21:28,900 Back in the 1920s, 374 00:21:28,900 --> 00:21:31,460 New York songwriters knew exactly where to go 375 00:21:31,460 --> 00:21:33,500 when they wanted fresh inspiration. 376 00:21:39,460 --> 00:21:42,100 Harlem was the city's most happening district. 377 00:21:47,260 --> 00:21:50,860 It had become a focus for the jazz culture of black America. 378 00:21:53,380 --> 00:21:56,260 White people came here from other parts of town 379 00:21:56,260 --> 00:21:59,580 and they called it "slumming it in Harlem". 380 00:21:59,580 --> 00:22:02,620 Musicians like George Gershwin and others 381 00:22:02,620 --> 00:22:05,740 and they found illicit alcohol, 382 00:22:05,740 --> 00:22:07,700 forbidden sex... 383 00:22:08,780 --> 00:22:10,740 ..and amazing music. 384 00:22:12,740 --> 00:22:14,780 There was one song in particular, 385 00:22:14,780 --> 00:22:16,860 a love song, 386 00:22:16,860 --> 00:22:19,300 that was thought of as Harlem's theme tune 387 00:22:19,300 --> 00:22:22,380 because its playfulness summed up the Harlem spirit. 388 00:22:22,380 --> 00:22:24,980 # No-one to talk with 389 00:22:26,020 --> 00:22:28,380 # All by myself 390 00:22:28,380 --> 00:22:30,420 # No-one to walk with 391 00:22:30,420 --> 00:22:34,060 # But I'm happy on the shelf 392 00:22:34,060 --> 00:22:36,980 # Ain't misbehavin' 393 00:22:36,980 --> 00:22:41,980 # I'm saving my love for you # 394 00:22:41,980 --> 00:22:44,020 Ain't Misbehavin'. 395 00:22:44,020 --> 00:22:46,100 This could be a song about fidelity 396 00:22:46,100 --> 00:22:49,220 and really saving yourself for one person 397 00:22:49,220 --> 00:22:51,300 or... 398 00:22:51,300 --> 00:22:53,940 with a twinkle in the eye and a tongue in cheek, 399 00:22:53,940 --> 00:22:56,660 it can mean something quite different. 400 00:22:57,580 --> 00:23:00,540 # No one to talk with, all by myself 401 00:23:01,580 --> 00:23:05,980 # No one to walk with, but I'm happy on the elevation of the shelf 402 00:23:05,980 --> 00:23:08,020 # Ain't misbehavin' 403 00:23:08,020 --> 00:23:10,740 # Saving my love for you 404 00:23:10,740 --> 00:23:13,860 # And you, especially you, yeah... # 405 00:23:13,860 --> 00:23:16,700 This is Thomas Waller, nicknamed "Fats", 406 00:23:16,700 --> 00:23:18,740 the man who composed the music. 407 00:23:18,740 --> 00:23:21,900 # I'm through with flirting... # 408 00:23:21,900 --> 00:23:26,060 There is a delicious irony hearing him sing "I'm through with flirting". 409 00:23:26,060 --> 00:23:29,780 After all, Fats was one of Harlem's most notorious philanderers. 410 00:23:29,780 --> 00:23:32,500 He certainly knew how to turn on the charm. 411 00:23:37,420 --> 00:23:39,740 Fats Waller's cheeky song reflects 412 00:23:39,740 --> 00:23:42,460 the risque club scene where he shot to fame. 413 00:23:42,460 --> 00:23:44,580 Floor shows were raunchy and daring, 414 00:23:44,580 --> 00:23:47,300 the music irrepressible. 415 00:23:53,820 --> 00:23:56,660 There is little left now of that legendary scene. 416 00:23:56,660 --> 00:23:59,500 But singer and local resident Michael Mwenso 417 00:23:59,500 --> 00:24:01,460 is showing me where it all happened. 418 00:24:03,540 --> 00:24:06,460 So, this is Fats Waller world, eh? 419 00:24:06,460 --> 00:24:10,380 This is definitely one of the places he would have spent some time in. 420 00:24:10,380 --> 00:24:12,420 It was originally a movie theatre. 421 00:24:12,420 --> 00:24:14,500 Big bands would play upstairs. 422 00:24:14,500 --> 00:24:17,820 Great Benny Carter would play. Bessie Smith played here. 423 00:24:17,820 --> 00:24:20,260 The great Billie Holiday played a lot of times 424 00:24:20,460 --> 00:24:22,460 early on in her career. Really? 425 00:24:22,460 --> 00:24:24,420 Yeah. This was the place. 426 00:24:28,460 --> 00:24:32,140 The syncopated music rocking joints like the Alhambra 427 00:24:32,140 --> 00:24:34,140 lured many Broadway stars uptown 428 00:24:34,140 --> 00:24:36,740 to see the outrageous action for themselves. 429 00:24:36,740 --> 00:24:41,060 From Al Jolson to Fred Astaire, Mae West to Judy Garland, 430 00:24:41,060 --> 00:24:43,020 they all came. 431 00:24:45,300 --> 00:24:48,860 They would say that as soon as 12 o'clock would come, midnight, 432 00:24:48,860 --> 00:24:52,540 you would see vans and truckloads of people coming from downtown. 433 00:24:52,540 --> 00:24:54,580 Because this would be the place. 434 00:24:54,580 --> 00:24:56,620 The amount of speakeasys, 435 00:24:56,620 --> 00:24:59,700 house rent parties, clubs, bars... 436 00:24:59,700 --> 00:25:02,060 House rent parties? House rent parties. 437 00:25:02,060 --> 00:25:04,620 If you didn't have enough money to pay the rent 438 00:25:04,620 --> 00:25:07,860 and you are gonna get kicked out, you'd have a house party 439 00:25:07,860 --> 00:25:10,300 to raise money. You'd have a band playing. 440 00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:13,500 So if you had somebody like Fats Waller at your rent party 441 00:25:13,500 --> 00:25:15,580 you are laughing. 442 00:25:15,580 --> 00:25:18,180 You had someone like Fats Waller at your party 443 00:25:18,180 --> 00:25:20,260 you'd be thanking high God. 444 00:25:20,260 --> 00:25:23,420 You'd be, "OK, I can pay my rent for the next two years." 445 00:25:28,300 --> 00:25:31,220 It would be a mistake to underestimate Fats Waller. 446 00:25:31,220 --> 00:25:33,500 He was such a larger-than-life character 447 00:25:33,500 --> 00:25:35,580 in every sense, 448 00:25:35,580 --> 00:25:38,380 that it's easy to overlook his musical brilliance. 449 00:25:40,060 --> 00:25:43,780 He was master of a jaunty piano style known as "Stride". 450 00:25:44,700 --> 00:25:47,900 You can hear it in the catchy melody of Ain't Misbehavin'. 451 00:25:53,700 --> 00:25:56,060 The melody he is writing, that's genius. 452 00:25:56,060 --> 00:25:59,700 It's like you doing call and response to yourself. 453 00:25:59,700 --> 00:26:02,420 Like you go, "Hello, what's your name?" 454 00:26:02,420 --> 00:26:04,460 "How are you doing?" 455 00:26:04,460 --> 00:26:06,500 He's doing it all in the same thing. 456 00:26:06,500 --> 00:26:08,540 (VOCALISES) That's the call. 457 00:26:08,540 --> 00:26:11,100 Now the response. (VOCALISES) 458 00:26:11,100 --> 00:26:13,140 Now the call. 459 00:26:13,140 --> 00:26:15,180 (VOCALISES) 460 00:26:15,180 --> 00:26:18,340 Response. (VOCALISES) 461 00:26:18,340 --> 00:26:21,260 I love that bit because it cascades back down again. 462 00:26:21,260 --> 00:26:23,300 (VOCALISES) 463 00:26:23,300 --> 00:26:25,340 Here's Fats 464 00:26:25,340 --> 00:26:27,380 in the film Stormy Weather from '43. 465 00:26:27,380 --> 00:26:29,340 Here we go. 466 00:26:31,660 --> 00:26:34,420 In Stormy Weather, which unusually for the time 467 00:26:34,420 --> 00:26:38,020 focussed on life in black America, Fats' cameo steals the show. 468 00:26:38,020 --> 00:26:41,100 # No one to talk with 469 00:26:41,100 --> 00:26:43,140 # All by myself 470 00:26:43,140 --> 00:26:45,540 # No one to walk with 471 00:26:45,540 --> 00:26:48,300 He's got an innocent look on his... 472 00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:50,340 He's playing the characters. 473 00:26:50,340 --> 00:26:52,380 But you know he's not innocent. 474 00:26:52,380 --> 00:26:54,420 He's almost giving you... 475 00:26:54,420 --> 00:26:57,220 # For you 476 00:26:57,220 --> 00:27:00,340 I love when he does that. # For you, for you 477 00:27:00,340 --> 00:27:03,820 He's saving his kisses for lots of different people. That's right. 478 00:27:03,820 --> 00:27:06,620 # Ain't misbehavin' 479 00:27:06,620 --> 00:27:11,660 # Saving my love for you # 480 00:27:15,060 --> 00:27:17,860 Do you know my favourite bit of his performances? 481 00:27:17,860 --> 00:27:19,900 I'm saving my love for you... 482 00:27:19,900 --> 00:27:21,980 and you...and you 483 00:27:21,980 --> 00:27:24,500 and you. He's got to be bisexual. 484 00:27:24,500 --> 00:27:26,420 Multisexual. You can be anybody. 485 00:27:31,860 --> 00:27:35,220 Part of the joy of these great American love songs 486 00:27:35,220 --> 00:27:37,180 is their sheer variety. 487 00:27:38,060 --> 00:27:41,660 Sure, they can be cheeky, witty or melancholy. 488 00:27:42,780 --> 00:27:46,020 They can also be unashamedly sentimental 489 00:27:46,020 --> 00:27:47,980 in the most wonderful way. 490 00:27:56,980 --> 00:28:02,940 # Some day when I'm awfully low 491 00:28:02,940 --> 00:28:05,380 # And the world is cold... # 492 00:28:05,380 --> 00:28:09,900 I think this song is one of the most romantic ever written. 493 00:28:11,340 --> 00:28:16,660 # You and the way you look tonight 494 00:28:17,820 --> 00:28:21,020 The Way You Look Tonight was written for Fred Astaire 495 00:28:21,020 --> 00:28:23,980 to serenade Ginger Rogers in this hit comedy. 496 00:28:23,980 --> 00:28:27,020 # With your smile so warm 497 00:28:27,020 --> 00:28:29,860 Fred is not the world's greatest singer 498 00:28:29,860 --> 00:28:31,900 but his charm wins through. 499 00:28:31,900 --> 00:28:35,460 # ..but to love you... # 500 00:28:35,460 --> 00:28:38,060 The wonderful thing about this comic set-up 501 00:28:38,060 --> 00:28:40,100 is that while he says, 502 00:28:40,100 --> 00:28:42,180 "I love you the way you look tonight" 503 00:28:42,180 --> 00:28:44,460 she's in the middle of washing her hair. 504 00:28:44,460 --> 00:28:46,500 So her hair is covered in shampoo. 505 00:28:46,500 --> 00:28:48,580 But that's the truth of the song 506 00:28:48,580 --> 00:28:52,500 because the song is really saying, I love you the way you look tonight 507 00:28:52,500 --> 00:28:56,180 and that is however you look, whatever you look like. 508 00:28:56,180 --> 00:29:04,700 # Just the way you look tonight # 509 00:29:10,900 --> 00:29:12,980 The Way You Look Tonight 510 00:29:12,980 --> 00:29:16,100 perfectly captures the romance of the early talkies. 511 00:29:16,100 --> 00:29:18,780 The musical styles of Harlem and Broadway 512 00:29:18,780 --> 00:29:21,300 were now reaching a far wider audience 513 00:29:21,300 --> 00:29:23,260 through films like Swing Time. 514 00:29:24,140 --> 00:29:26,180 This was the '30s 515 00:29:26,180 --> 00:29:28,260 and depression-era Americans 516 00:29:28,260 --> 00:29:30,780 were desperate for a bit of escapist fantasy. 517 00:29:31,940 --> 00:29:35,340 The Way You Look Tonight was written my composer Jerome Kern 518 00:29:35,340 --> 00:29:37,300 and lyricist Dorothy Fields. 519 00:29:39,220 --> 00:29:41,660 Fields, who grew up in a showbiz family 520 00:29:41,660 --> 00:29:43,660 battled male prejudice to become 521 00:29:43,660 --> 00:29:46,900 the first successful woman in the songwriting business. 522 00:29:46,900 --> 00:29:50,500 In the following decades she wrote the lyrics to dozens of songs 523 00:29:50,500 --> 00:29:53,220 including the '60s hit Big Spender. 524 00:29:53,220 --> 00:29:55,260 But for me, 525 00:29:55,260 --> 00:29:57,300 The Way You Look Tonight 526 00:29:57,300 --> 00:29:59,380 is her crowning achievement. 527 00:29:59,380 --> 00:30:05,140 # And that laugh that wrinkles your nose 528 00:30:06,100 --> 00:30:10,660 # Touches my foolish heart... # 529 00:30:10,660 --> 00:30:14,100 It's been recorded by singers as diverse as Billie Holiday, 530 00:30:14,100 --> 00:30:16,900 and Bryan Ferry. But one of my favourite versions 531 00:30:16,900 --> 00:30:19,300 is Michael Buble's cool bossa nova. 532 00:30:22,060 --> 00:30:25,060 # That breathless charm 533 00:30:25,940 --> 00:30:28,460 # Won't you please arrange it? 534 00:30:28,460 --> 00:30:33,100 # Cos I love you 535 00:30:33,860 --> 00:30:39,340 # Just the way you look tonight... # 536 00:30:39,340 --> 00:30:42,860 The lyrics capture that exquisite feeling 537 00:30:42,860 --> 00:30:44,980 when you are so besotted with someone 538 00:30:44,980 --> 00:30:47,900 that everything else fades away. 539 00:30:49,260 --> 00:30:51,780 I'm lucky to be meeting Dorothy Fields' son, 540 00:30:51,780 --> 00:30:53,740 musician David Lahm. 541 00:30:55,220 --> 00:30:58,580 I love all these songs that we are looking at, but this one... 542 00:30:58,580 --> 00:31:01,100 it changes the way I feel. It makes me feel... 543 00:31:01,100 --> 00:31:03,540 It changes my biochemistry. 544 00:31:03,540 --> 00:31:07,180 If I hear it, I get love coursing through my entire body. 545 00:31:08,100 --> 00:31:11,780 What is the magic? What makes this... this song so special? 546 00:31:11,780 --> 00:31:16,380 It affects different people in different ways. 547 00:31:16,380 --> 00:31:19,260 From a practical point of view 548 00:31:19,260 --> 00:31:22,260 the fact that it's only one octave in range 549 00:31:22,260 --> 00:31:24,340 makes it easy to sing. 550 00:31:24,340 --> 00:31:27,900 And the fact that it was in a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie, 551 00:31:27,900 --> 00:31:29,940 that wasn't a bad thing either. 552 00:31:29,940 --> 00:31:32,540 And the song I think was bubbling along 553 00:31:32,540 --> 00:31:34,700 with a decent kind of productivity... 554 00:31:34,700 --> 00:31:38,620 I'm speaking now as the beneficiary of the royalties that it earns. 555 00:31:39,700 --> 00:31:41,740 Until about 1991. 556 00:31:41,740 --> 00:31:44,780 And then Steve Martin did the movie Father Of The Bride. 557 00:31:46,340 --> 00:31:49,300 # And your cheeks so soft 558 00:31:50,380 --> 00:31:53,340 This tender scene, where Steve Martin's character 559 00:31:53,340 --> 00:31:56,380 finally comes to terms with his daughter's nuptials 560 00:31:56,380 --> 00:31:59,140 has established the song as a wedding favourite. 561 00:31:59,140 --> 00:32:03,900 # Just the way you look tonight... # 562 00:32:03,900 --> 00:32:05,980 The words are so beautiful. 563 00:32:05,980 --> 00:32:08,580 "And that smile that wrinkles your nose 564 00:32:08,580 --> 00:32:11,060 captures my foolish heart." 565 00:32:11,060 --> 00:32:13,100 It's just magical. 566 00:32:13,100 --> 00:32:17,020 My mother had a very conversational way of writing lyrics. 567 00:32:17,020 --> 00:32:20,340 And I think that that gives it an immediacy. 568 00:32:20,340 --> 00:32:22,380 It's easy to relate to. 569 00:32:22,380 --> 00:32:25,020 But also you're not necessarily talking about 570 00:32:25,020 --> 00:32:28,100 Naomi Campbell or Marilyn Monroe. 571 00:32:28,100 --> 00:32:31,460 You're not talking about the world's most beautiful woman. 572 00:32:31,460 --> 00:32:34,460 You're just talking about... The one that you love. 573 00:32:34,460 --> 00:32:36,940 Do you think it's your mother's greatest lyric? 574 00:32:36,940 --> 00:32:38,980 That's... 575 00:32:38,980 --> 00:32:41,060 No, I... 576 00:32:41,060 --> 00:32:44,460 Excuse me? Do you know the song The Way You Look Tonight? 577 00:32:44,460 --> 00:32:46,980 Yes. # One day when I'm... 578 00:32:46,980 --> 00:32:48,980 # ...old and grey # 579 00:32:48,980 --> 00:32:51,380 # When all the world is cold 580 00:32:51,380 --> 00:32:55,060 # I will get a glow just thinking... # Of you 581 00:32:55,060 --> 00:32:57,100 # And the way... # You look 582 00:32:57,100 --> 00:33:00,060 # Tonight # Beautiful, isn't it? Yes. 583 00:33:00,060 --> 00:33:02,060 What is beautiful about that song? 584 00:33:02,060 --> 00:33:04,140 The lyrics. 585 00:33:04,140 --> 00:33:06,140 All right, is that his? 586 00:33:06,140 --> 00:33:08,260 No, it's his mother's. 587 00:33:08,260 --> 00:33:10,860 What was your mother's name? Dorothy Fields. 588 00:33:10,860 --> 00:33:12,900 Oh, of course. Of course. 589 00:33:12,900 --> 00:33:14,980 Very famous woman. 590 00:33:14,980 --> 00:33:18,540 I agree with you. What is the best thing about that song? The lyrics. 591 00:33:18,540 --> 00:33:20,940 Yes. Thank you very much. You're welcome. 592 00:33:20,940 --> 00:33:23,020 Really nice to meet you. 593 00:33:23,020 --> 00:33:25,740 What's the best thing about that song? The lyric. 594 00:33:25,740 --> 00:33:29,380 Yeah. We have it from an unbiased source. 595 00:33:31,460 --> 00:33:35,380 Truth is we can talk about this song till the cows come home. 596 00:33:35,380 --> 00:33:38,980 But really the only way to experience its full power 597 00:33:38,980 --> 00:33:40,980 is to sing it. 598 00:33:42,260 --> 00:33:44,300 # Lovely 599 00:33:45,540 --> 00:33:47,980 # Never never change 600 00:33:49,420 --> 00:33:52,140 # Keep that breathless charm 601 00:33:53,300 --> 00:33:56,300 # Won't you please arrange it? 602 00:33:56,300 --> 00:34:00,220 # Cos I love 603 00:34:04,420 --> 00:34:07,700 # Just the way you look... 604 00:34:09,340 --> 00:34:11,780 # Tonight # 605 00:34:17,860 --> 00:34:21,540 # Just the way you look 606 00:34:33,900 --> 00:34:36,540 # Tonight # 607 00:34:36,540 --> 00:34:38,500 (PIANO FLOURISH) 608 00:34:46,580 --> 00:34:48,540 It's not a bad song. 609 00:34:54,180 --> 00:34:57,900 Of course, love isn't always blissful and trouble free. 610 00:34:57,900 --> 00:35:02,300 Sometimes the most intense passion is repressed and frustrated. 611 00:35:03,940 --> 00:35:06,980 And I think nobody expressed frustrated passion 612 00:35:06,980 --> 00:35:09,660 better than the songwriter Cole Porter. 613 00:35:09,660 --> 00:35:13,140 A sparkling socialite with a secret double life. 614 00:35:20,980 --> 00:35:23,420 # Like the beat, beat, beat... 615 00:35:23,420 --> 00:35:25,500 Written in 1932, 616 00:35:25,500 --> 00:35:27,580 Cole Porter's Night And Day 617 00:35:27,580 --> 00:35:29,980 has one of the most unusual introductions. 618 00:35:29,980 --> 00:35:31,980 # Tick, tick, tock... 619 00:35:31,980 --> 00:35:35,340 The same hypnotic note sung 35 times. 620 00:35:35,340 --> 00:35:37,380 # ..against the wall 621 00:35:37,380 --> 00:35:40,860 # Like the drip, drip, drip of the raindrops 622 00:35:41,740 --> 00:35:44,980 Pulsating tom-toms on Ella Fitzgerald's version 623 00:35:44,980 --> 00:35:47,020 reinforce the sense 624 00:35:47,020 --> 00:35:50,420 there is something unsettled going on beneath the surface. 625 00:35:50,420 --> 00:35:52,500 Very much like Cole Porter himself. 626 00:35:52,500 --> 00:35:56,980 # Night and day 627 00:35:56,980 --> 00:36:00,540 # You are the one 628 00:36:00,540 --> 00:36:02,940 And yet to outward appearances, 629 00:36:02,940 --> 00:36:05,700 everything was elegant sophistication. 630 00:36:06,980 --> 00:36:09,700 The Waldorf Astoria, Park Avenue. 631 00:36:09,700 --> 00:36:12,300 Famous hotel for the rich and famous. 632 00:36:13,500 --> 00:36:16,260 Cole Porter lived here. 633 00:36:16,260 --> 00:36:19,500 Lived here for more than 30 years. 634 00:36:20,420 --> 00:36:22,540 Think of the bill. 635 00:36:22,540 --> 00:36:24,780 In there there is something incredibly special 636 00:36:24,780 --> 00:36:26,780 that I want to show you. 637 00:36:32,900 --> 00:36:36,020 Cole Porter hosted many dazzling parties at the Waldorf 638 00:36:36,020 --> 00:36:38,500 and wrote some of his greatest songs here. 639 00:36:39,700 --> 00:36:41,700 And in the hotel lobby 640 00:36:41,700 --> 00:36:43,820 there is an extraordinary survivor 641 00:36:43,820 --> 00:36:46,540 from that whirlwind of glamour and creativity. 642 00:36:46,540 --> 00:36:49,140 Cole Porter's own piano. 643 00:36:52,260 --> 00:36:54,340 For me, this is... 644 00:36:54,340 --> 00:36:56,380 quite a moment. 645 00:36:56,380 --> 00:36:58,540 This is greater than Hendrix's guitar. 646 00:36:59,700 --> 00:37:02,100 Paul McCartney's Hofner bass. 647 00:37:04,860 --> 00:37:06,820 # Night and day 648 00:37:09,780 --> 00:37:11,780 # You are the one... 649 00:37:13,900 --> 00:37:17,620 # Whether near to me or far 650 00:37:17,620 --> 00:37:21,980 # No matter, darling, where you are 651 00:37:22,900 --> 00:37:24,860 # I think of you 652 00:37:28,540 --> 00:37:30,500 # Night and day # 653 00:37:35,620 --> 00:37:37,620 It's so lovely. 654 00:37:38,860 --> 00:37:40,940 Played by a plonker. 655 00:37:40,940 --> 00:37:43,460 Imagine Cole Porter playing it on this piano. 656 00:37:46,260 --> 00:37:48,300 Such a beautiful song. 657 00:37:48,300 --> 00:37:52,140 But there is so much more to it than sweet romance. 658 00:37:52,900 --> 00:37:57,260 BILLIE HOLIDAY: # Night and day 659 00:37:57,260 --> 00:38:00,660 You can hear it in the earthiness of Billie Holiday's version. 660 00:38:03,460 --> 00:38:08,540 # There's an oh, such a hungry yearning 661 00:38:08,540 --> 00:38:11,100 # Burning inside of me... # 662 00:38:11,100 --> 00:38:13,700 "Such a hungry yearning burning inside of me." 663 00:38:15,540 --> 00:38:18,500 Even U2 had a go at conveying that passion. 664 00:38:19,260 --> 00:38:23,860 # Under the hide of me 665 00:38:23,860 --> 00:38:27,860 # There's such a hungry yearning 666 00:38:27,860 --> 00:38:31,620 # Burning inside of me... # 667 00:38:33,500 --> 00:38:35,540 To the outside world, 668 00:38:35,540 --> 00:38:37,540 Cole Porter seemed to have it all. 669 00:38:37,540 --> 00:38:39,620 Fame, money, talent, 670 00:38:39,620 --> 00:38:41,620 a glamorous wife. 671 00:38:41,620 --> 00:38:43,740 Privately, 672 00:38:43,740 --> 00:38:46,300 he struggled to deal with his homosexuality. 673 00:38:46,300 --> 00:38:49,260 In those days, it was not only socially unacceptable, 674 00:38:49,260 --> 00:38:51,340 but also illegal. 675 00:38:51,340 --> 00:38:53,340 So the lovers he did have 676 00:38:53,340 --> 00:38:55,340 were kept strictly hidden. 677 00:38:56,060 --> 00:38:59,140 # Night and day 678 00:38:59,140 --> 00:39:02,020 # Under the hide of me 679 00:39:02,020 --> 00:39:05,340 There are very few people left who knew Cole Porter. 680 00:39:05,340 --> 00:39:07,420 # Burning, burning... 681 00:39:07,420 --> 00:39:09,380 Singer Marti Stevens did. 682 00:39:11,420 --> 00:39:15,700 # And its torment won't be through 683 00:39:15,700 --> 00:39:20,140 # Till you let me spend my life 684 00:39:20,140 --> 00:39:24,420 # Making love to you 685 00:39:24,420 --> 00:39:27,700 # Day and night 686 00:39:27,700 --> 00:39:33,660 # Night and day # 687 00:39:35,180 --> 00:39:37,260 At the age of 81, 688 00:39:37,260 --> 00:39:39,300 she still performs his music 689 00:39:39,300 --> 00:39:42,060 with more passion than many artists half her age. 690 00:39:44,820 --> 00:39:46,900 That sequence of Night And Day, 691 00:39:46,900 --> 00:39:49,540 the boom-boom-boom... 692 00:39:49,540 --> 00:39:52,060 That's like any obsession. 693 00:39:52,060 --> 00:39:54,060 Haven't you ever been in love? 694 00:39:54,060 --> 00:39:56,060 And haunted by something... 695 00:39:57,140 --> 00:39:59,180 ..that can drive you absolutely mad 696 00:39:59,180 --> 00:40:01,820 when you are trying to think of something else. 697 00:40:01,820 --> 00:40:04,340 The drip, drip, drip of the raindrops. 698 00:40:04,340 --> 00:40:06,980 The beat, beat, beat of the tom-tom. 699 00:40:06,980 --> 00:40:09,740 Yeah. He's described it very well. 700 00:40:12,300 --> 00:40:14,900 Marti knew Cole Porter during his later years. 701 00:40:14,900 --> 00:40:17,820 She saw plenty of his glamorous side 702 00:40:17,820 --> 00:40:20,580 and explored Europe and the Middle East together. 703 00:40:21,580 --> 00:40:25,820 We used to have all the china, all the silver, all the crystal. 704 00:40:25,820 --> 00:40:28,540 And there we were, out in the desert in Petra. 705 00:40:28,540 --> 00:40:30,580 And he had a little card table 706 00:40:30,580 --> 00:40:33,900 and his marvellous valet, Paul Silvain, 707 00:40:33,900 --> 00:40:35,860 used to serve him breakfast. 708 00:40:37,140 --> 00:40:39,140 He'd be there with his orange juice. 709 00:40:39,140 --> 00:40:41,260 It was just so. 710 00:40:41,260 --> 00:40:43,380 Perfection. 711 00:40:43,380 --> 00:40:46,100 Cole, when he was accused of being a snob, said... 712 00:40:48,260 --> 00:40:50,300 "I'm not a snob. 713 00:40:50,300 --> 00:40:52,700 I just like the very best of everything." 714 00:40:53,660 --> 00:40:57,180 God knows, he was more fun than a wicked wagonload of Winkies. 715 00:40:57,180 --> 00:41:00,260 You go to Cole to get a walk on the wild side. 716 00:41:00,260 --> 00:41:03,820 But he was a repressed man. 717 00:41:03,820 --> 00:41:06,220 I thought so. I mean I never delved into that 718 00:41:06,220 --> 00:41:09,100 because passion is passion wherever you have it. 719 00:41:09,100 --> 00:41:11,340 You can't help who you fall in love with. 720 00:41:11,340 --> 00:41:13,460 Ain't that the truth. 721 00:41:13,460 --> 00:41:15,940 It's through his music that Marti believes 722 00:41:15,940 --> 00:41:18,900 she's seen a hidden intensity of that other Cole. 723 00:41:18,900 --> 00:41:21,660 Never more so than in Night And Day. 724 00:41:21,660 --> 00:41:25,940 You know the word which just leaps out from that song? 725 00:41:27,420 --> 00:41:29,460 Torment. 726 00:41:29,460 --> 00:41:32,140 That's what he had. All the time. 727 00:41:32,140 --> 00:41:34,180 Sure he was torn. 728 00:41:34,180 --> 00:41:36,180 He had torment and he had pain. 729 00:41:37,460 --> 00:41:39,420 And... Pain in the heart? 730 00:41:40,700 --> 00:41:42,740 I think very often 731 00:41:42,740 --> 00:41:45,100 because he fell in love quite frequently. 732 00:41:45,100 --> 00:41:49,220 I think Cole was the most passionate of all of them. I really do. 733 00:41:50,700 --> 00:41:54,020 # Making love to... # 734 00:41:54,020 --> 00:41:56,780 Perhaps if Cole Porter had lived 50 years later, 735 00:41:56,780 --> 00:41:58,820 he'd have been a happier man. 736 00:41:58,820 --> 00:42:02,940 But would he have left us such an extraordinary musical legacy? 737 00:42:02,940 --> 00:42:06,420 Such clever, complex songs about love. 738 00:42:06,420 --> 00:42:12,900 # Night and day # 739 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,120 The great American love song 740 00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:24,160 captured every stage of love. 741 00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:26,200 The hope, the thrill, 742 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,240 the romance, 743 00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:30,280 but also of course 744 00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:32,320 the pain of breaking up. 745 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:36,080 # There was a moon 746 00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:40,360 # Out in space 747 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:42,440 The Night We Called It A Day 748 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,400 was written for Frank Sinatra in 1942, 749 00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:48,200 But this later version is his best. 750 00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:56,560 # You kissed me and went on your way 751 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:04,480 # The night we called it a day... # 752 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,880 Sinatra's trademark long, haunting phrases 753 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:12,960 evoke what it feels like to have loved and lost. 754 00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:19,360 # Like a minor lament 755 00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:23,800 # In my ears 756 00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,000 He recorded this version 757 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:32,280 the year his tempestuous marriage to Ava Gardner finally ended in divorce. 758 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:34,320 And you can hear it in his voice. 759 00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:38,240 # The night we called it a day 760 00:43:38,240 --> 00:43:41,680 This is an unbearably heartbreaking song. 761 00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:43,720 An end-of-relationship song. 762 00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:46,520 And the reason it hits home... 763 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:49,600 ..is that... 764 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:51,680 so many of us have had those moments. 765 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:55,040 When to go on in a relationship has just been... 766 00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:57,080 futile. 767 00:43:57,080 --> 00:43:59,360 As much as you do love each other, 768 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,760 sometimes it becomes just utterly hopeless 769 00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:04,840 and it's going nowhere. 770 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,600 But the passion and love is still there. 771 00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:12,840 The words by lyricist Matt Dennis 772 00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:16,240 are poetry of a sublime simplicity. 773 00:44:16,240 --> 00:44:21,040 # The moon went down... # 774 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:23,080 "The moon went down. 775 00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:25,040 The stars were gone. 776 00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:29,440 And the sun didn't rise with the dawn." 777 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:33,320 # ..the sun didn't rise with the dawn... # 778 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:38,000 So even though you wake up and it's dawn and it's sunrise, 779 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,040 it's not there, the sun is not there. 780 00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:42,080 Everything is grey. 781 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:44,120 Everything is bleak. 782 00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:46,160 Everything is... 783 00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:48,240 depressing. 784 00:44:48,240 --> 00:44:52,240 But the bleakness in the song has such a stark beauty. 785 00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:58,480 1942. 786 00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:00,560 The year the song was written 787 00:45:00,560 --> 00:45:04,320 marked the beginning of the end of this golden age of songwriting. 788 00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:06,960 From now on the great composers and lyricists 789 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:10,280 began to be eclipsed by singers. Stars like Frank Sinatra. 790 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:12,360 Worshipped by their teenage fans. 791 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:15,880 While the songwriters slipped into relative obscurity. 792 00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:27,520 Tom Adair's bitter-sweet melody for The Night We Called It A Day... 793 00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:31,560 ..beautifully matches Matt Dennis's poetic words. 794 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:36,080 Yet their names are all but forgotten today. 795 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:51,160 Hey. Hey. 796 00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,240 What a song, isn't it? So beautiful. 797 00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:55,320 It's just one of the most 798 00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:59,240 heartbreaking end-of-relationship songs, isn't it? 799 00:45:59,240 --> 00:46:02,360 # Kissed me then went on your way 800 00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:05,880 And there's that line in it, "There wasn't a thing left to say." 801 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:08,480 But it says...everything. 802 00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:10,440 It's like a three-act play in... 803 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:13,600 ..one line, isn't it? It is. 804 00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:15,600 That was beautiful. Thank you. 805 00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:17,560 Thanks a lot. 806 00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:23,400 It's not that these wonderful songs disappeared. 807 00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:26,160 They simply got pushed out of the spotlight 808 00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:29,560 as rock and roll took centre stage in the 1950s. 809 00:46:29,560 --> 00:46:33,200 And yet however much musical styles have come and gone, 810 00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:36,800 these songs have kept coming back. 811 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:40,240 People have said these are period pieces 812 00:46:40,240 --> 00:46:43,360 but they seem to have not only an emotional relevance, 813 00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:46,720 they seem to have a complete musical relevance, don't they? 814 00:46:46,720 --> 00:46:49,440 When they are done well, they seem so fresh. 815 00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:51,480 Yeah, absolutely. 816 00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:53,560 I feel one can perform them now 817 00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:57,680 and they don't have to sound as if they are preserved in aspic. 818 00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:03,720 They really are very, very open to contemporary presentation. 819 00:47:03,720 --> 00:47:07,200 And to sound like actually what they are addressing, 820 00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:09,280 the human condition, ourselves. 821 00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:12,320 Same old story, nothing has changed really. 822 00:47:12,320 --> 00:47:18,640 The human beings of the 21st century are still grappling with 823 00:47:18,640 --> 00:47:20,720 the issues emotionally... 824 00:47:20,720 --> 00:47:23,440 Slightly different maybe in a different kind of way, 825 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:25,480 but still at the core of it 826 00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:27,560 it's the same theme. 827 00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:30,680 So do you think people still in 50 years' time, 100 years' time 828 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:33,600 are gonna be singing Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart? 829 00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:35,600 I don't see any reason why not. 830 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:44,520 # The moon went down, stars were gone 831 00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:52,600 # But the sun didn't rise with the dawn 832 00:47:55,280 --> 00:48:02,960 # There wasn't a thing left to say 833 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:08,480 # The night we called it a day # 834 00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:10,440 There wasn't a thing left to say. 835 00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:14,200 Well, there's always going to be things to say about 836 00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:16,200 the great mysteries of love. 837 00:48:17,240 --> 00:48:21,000 But I don't think they will ever be expressed so poignantly, 838 00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:23,040 so perfectly, 839 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:25,040 so beautifully 840 00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:27,040 as in these songs. 841 00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:29,880 They've been with us for a long time. 842 00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:34,040 And they are going to be with us for a lot longer. 843 00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:42,280 subtitles by Deluxe