I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE TRUE TO YOU
see Appendix 1.c

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:













ISCOGRAPHY:

1961
Cut from Sail Away 1961 before it reached New York
Unpubl. MS
The lyrics of the song version are different to those of the published [in NCCV] poem of the same title, but with much shared material. The overall mood is wistful, even a touch elegaic. NC's demo recording presents the piece in the form Refrain-Verse-Refrain; but the written-down MS version done at the time of preparations for SA is much shorter, with no middle verse section. The song's structure is rather too tied down by the phrases of the lyrics, and the melodic and harmonic elements do not combine to produce any really satisfactory sense of direction. The marriage of words and music is not comfortable, and one suspects the poem came first and the song was a later attempt to set it to music. At the close of the song there are just too many modulations too close together for comfort. For these reasons it's almost impossible to sing it well.
The fact that NC attempted the musical setting shows that he believed the verse's sentiment, so we may assume a high degree of autobiographicality. Equally, the fact that the song was summarily dropped from SA when the show was restructured in Philadelphia [NCD] and its subsequent complete disappearance into archives shows discimination on the part of the composer.
NCR 43: + pno. acc. Werner? (1961)

I CAN'T THINK

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:

(1928)
This Year of Grace (USA prod.) 1928 (Beatrice Lillie)
Unpubl. MS
The melody and rhythm - and the entire lyric - are a close pastiche of Gertrude Lawrence's popular number I DON'T KNOW (from London Calling! and Charlot's Revue of 1924) by Ronald Jeans and Philip Braham. In fact the song had been made popular by Phyllis Monkman in Tails Up ten years earlier. This pastiche merely marks the unusual longevity and general knowledge of the original - before apparently killing it dead. The melody, especially at its closing phrase, is decidedly eccentric, giving a much exaggerated parody of a pretty spiky original.

I DREAMED OF YOU
see Appendix 1.c

I FEEL SO TERRIBLY ALONE
see LADY WINDERMERE'S ARIA

I GAVE MY HEART AWAY
subtitled FIRST WALTZ

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:

(1937?)
Unused
Unpubl. MS
This is one of three MSS, subtitled First, Second and Third Waltzes, whose tentative dating derives from their being found in an archival envelope near material otherwise from an early draft for Operette [see BD]. The other two waltzes are titled JE T'AIME and THERE'S NO MORE TO SAY ABOUT LOVE.
This is a well-worked Viennese waltz of some grace and poise. Two 32-bar refrains sandwich a 24-bar episode, all showing four-bar melodic phrases. My feeling is that, while the melodies are good, the lyric is a bit mundane - and there's nothing outstandingly special about the way they have been put together.

I KNEW THAT YOU WOULD BE MY LOVE

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:










DISCOGRAPHY:

(1953)
After the Ball 1954 (Vanessa Lee and Peter Graves)
Sep.Publ.
Waltz aria. Lord Windermere's love song to Lady W, music No.3 in Act I. It is reprised at the end as a duet when they are reconciled.
The verse section is perhaps a bit weak. The refrain is a fast waltz, whose main theme - a repetition of a downwards 6th interval - is effective, and somewhat reminiscent of the repetitious melodic patterns of the MIRABELLE WALTZ. Vanessa Lee (OCR 15) is excellent for the pacing of the main lyrical phrases and uses little vocal “swoops” up and down, showing what character can be brought to bear on even a repetitious melodic pattern.
The second half of the melody, where the top and bottom notes of the descending interval are each extended further, is pleasing; but despite the fact that it it is the strongest waltz number in the score (much stronger than SWEET DAY, which was supposed to be the “big” waltz number), it is not really a strong enough tune to carry major reprises.
OCR 15: Vanessa Lee & Peter Graves (1954)
ONR 14: Joan Sutherland + orch. (1966)
ONR 00: Kristin Huxhold & Paul Carlin (2005)

I LIKE AMERICA

ORIGIN:
USE:

SOURCE:


NOTES:













DISCOGRAPHY:

(1949)
Ace of Clubs 1950 (Graham Payn & Ace Girls)
Café de Paris 1951 (but cut from that)
Sep.Publ.
NCSB
VS CC
Point number. At Manchester during the pre-London tour, this number was the second half opener. By the time the show reached London IN A BOAT ON A LAKE WITH MY DARLING had been inserted in that spot.
As printed in NCSB the song was more in the "show" shape, with full introductory duet between chorus and solo. The archive MS by Robb Stewart has more syncopations in the opening bars, and the verse starts at "I don't care for China...". This is how NC reverted to performing it in cabaret. Although the piece included the Ace girls, it was not part of the 'club floorshow', but a show-off song for Graham Payn.
An unusual upbeat comedy song, in that it is not in 6/8 tempo but a controlled 2/2. It is quite melodically repetitious, but lyrically and structurally strong, with long, very rhythmic lyric/melodic lines full of interior rhymes. It has an unusually extended "middle 8" section which is actually a "middle 16", and a nice progressive twist to the harmony as the lyric is lengthened on its final line. Twiggy (ONR 12) brings an ice-dry acerbic quality to the song which is good for it, and I think better than NC's own!
OCR 14: Graham Payn (1950)
NCR 34: +C. de P. Orch. cond. acc. Hackforth (1951)
NCR 40: arr./orch. cond . & pno. acc. Peter Matz (1956)
ONR 12: Twiggy + combo. acc. Tom Fay (1999)
ONR 16a: Courtney Kenney (2001)

I LIVE IN A WORLD OF MY OWN
see Appendix 1.c

I LOVE MY BABIES BEST

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:

(1927)
Manchester try-out of This Year of Grace! (but dropped)
MUSIC LOST. Lyrics were published in the Book of Lyrics for Cochran's 1928 Revue (pre-London title of This Year of Grace!) at Act I No.6, as "SONG " (Maisie Gay). [At that time, it was common practice for a small booklet of the lyrics of a musical show to be produced for sale in the theatre.] An odd disappearance; unless perhaps the piece was a late addition during rehearsal and sheet-music never completed or filed in London by NC in the first place.

I MUSTN'T SAY THAT
see Appendix 1.c

I NEVER KNEW

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:

NOTES:










DISCOGRAPHY:

Early July 1946 [NCD]
Pacific 1860, 1946 (Mary Martin and Graham Payn)
Publ.VS
+ publ.Pno. Sel.
A duet aria for Kerry and Elena (Music No. 19) towards the end of Act II, following the chorus number THIS IS A NIGHT FOR LOVERS which sets up the scene. The piece was later revived for inclusion in Sail Away (1961), when it was turned into a solo and a line of lyrics was changed, but it was not in the end reused.
This is one of a number of pieces in Pacific 1860 which is barely known, having never been published outside the vocal score. A bit unjustly so in this instance, since it is a graceful piece musically. The refrain melodies, in flowing 2/4 quavers, each rise and fall like the swellings of an amorous breast, and a short interlude where the duet begins leads to a duet refrain. There is a good deal of passion in the lyrics. However, in the lyrics rest the problem, because they are of course couched in rather 'Period' terms, which does not make for a convincing modern love-song.
OCR 13: Mary Martin (1946)
NCR 29: Acc. Drury Lane Orch. cond. Mantovani (1947)

I OFFER YOU MY HEART

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:






DISCOGRAPHY:

(1953)
After the Ball 1954 (Shamus Locke)
Unpubl. MS
Duet aria in which Lord Darlington makes his avowal of love and Lady Windermere spurns it.
A slowish 4/4 number with rich harmonies and with notable use made of the interval of the downwards seventh. While the piece is by no means unpleasant neither is it particularly memorable, and as a musical construct it seems not to be able to make up its mind where it is going. It is almost as if NC was trying to reflect in his music the sentiment contained in the lyrics, "I'm afraid of being myself". It was not recorded on OCR 15 on account of Shamus Locke being under another exclusive recording contract at the time.
ONR 00: David Stalter & Kristin Huxhold (2005)

I PREFER TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:

1923?
London Calling! (second edition), December 1923
MUSIC and lyrics LOST
The only knowledge of this number comes from printed programmes, which list a song of this title credited to Coward.

I REMEMBER
see Appendix 1.c

I SAW NO SHADOW

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:








DISCOGRAPHY:

(1944-45) (see BD, p.223)
Pacific 1860, 1946 (Mary Martin)
Sep.Publ.
Romantic aria. A very satisfactory and rather neglected song whose refrain features pleasing modulations and an unexpected reuse of an earlier melodic/rhythmic phrase at its conclusion. The change of harmony in the interlude at “cold was the starlight” to Gb, shifting in the next bar to G and then back again, is also noteworthy and effective. NC slips in a little Gershwin-esque harmonic accompaniment at the end of the first phrase of the refrain.
The piece was apparently written rather earlier than the main genesis of Pacific 1860 when NC was sketching out ideas for his ‘Samolan Operette’ (see BD).
OCR 13 is well worth listening to. We do not exactly recommend ONR 27 below; it is included because it is the only known recent recording.
OCR 13: Mary Martin (1946)
NCR 29: + Drury Lane Orch. cond. Mantovani (Jan 1947)
NCR 30: + orch. cond. Mantovani (Jun 1947)
ONR 27: Richard Conrad (1998)

I TAKE TO YOU
see Appendix 1.a

I TRAVEL ALONE

ORIGIN:
USE:
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NOTES:

























DISCOGRAPHY:

Sept.1934 (or before)
Not used with any show
Sep. Publ. 1934
NCSB
NCG2
Ballad with strong autobiographical overtones. Cole Lesley considered it "one of the most indicative, self-revealing songs [NC] ever wrote". [CL]
Its effectiveness is partly due to the unusual opening of the melody - a long-held note to start - and partly to its underlying harmonic shifting (bars 1-2-3 of the refrain) which gives the theme an ambivalence between major and minor tonalities - the predominant characteristic of 'the blues'. It lends the song a haunting quality that is exquisitely balanced between lightness and remorse. This harmonic mood is also echoed at the end of the "dominant" phrase, "No remembered love can ever find me", and it is further cemented into the song in the simple two-chord accompaniment to bars 1-4 of the verse/interlude. The second half of the interlude does one of those delicious Coward keychanges (from Eb to F major via Gb!) which excellently supports and strengthens the impact of the lyric at this point.
Listening to the song again recently, it struck me that it is an almost perfect match of musical phrase and shape to the attached lyric: each lyric phrase, however the natural word-stresses fall, has a musical shape which ensures that the ‘right’ words are lent extra weight. It is an excellent example of a song whose lyric alone, on the page, lacks shape and impact, even appears a little trite; but joined with its melody, it becomes poetry of a high order. The slightly different ending of the second refrain is extremely well-judged musically. More generally, the whole pace and gentle steady trudging of the accompaniment suggest an appropriate pedestrian movement.
NC's own recording of the song (NCR 13) follows the structure: refrain (with short ending) - interlude - refrain (with extended ending), which seems entirely satisfactory. More than satisfactory is also Carroll Gibbons' accompaniment which displays finely-balanced rubati and a tempi within a delicate swing piano style.
It will be clear that a musician finds a great deal to appreciate in this song. Ian Bostridge (ONR 23) has said, "[NC] may not be Schubert, but he's not a million miles away". Perhaps this song gets close.
ONR 08: Alberta Hunter + Jack Jackson orch. (25 Oct 1934)
ONR 51: Sam Browne + Ambrose Orch. (25 Oct 1934)
NCR 13: acc. Carroll Gibbons (29 Oct 1934)
ONR 50: "Hutch" (Dec 1934)
ONR 05: Bobby Short (1972)
ONR 23: Ian Bostridge acc. Jeffrey Tate (2002)

I WANT A MAN ABOUT THE HOUSE
see MY KIND OF MAN

I WANTED TO SHOW YOU PARIS

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:











DISCOGRAPHY:

(1959) (from Later Than Spring before it became Sail Away)
unused
Unpubl. MS
The reprise was titled simply PARIS in the MS.
See BD p.305-308 for details of the original dramatic context of this and other songs from LTS.
This is, effectively, NC's own last love song for Paris. As performed by NC the piece starts with a relaxed lyrical refrain, with a change to a more rhythmic interlude before the refrain is repeated.
It is a rather lovely tune with nostalgic intent, starting high and falling gently downwards like a sigh. The interlude is much more lilting, more of a conscious enjoyment of lyric rhymes, and perhaps it does not sit altogether comfortably with the mood of the refrain. I also feel that particularly at the ending of the refrain the song's sense of key is unsettled, due to a slight lack of melodic direction. Perhaps this is a good thing? The song is effective in what it sets out to do, which is to paint an affectionately nostalgic image.
NCR 42: pno. acc. ?Gamley (1959/60)

ORIGIN:
USE:

SOURCE:




NOTES:




















DISCOGRAPHY:

(1938)
Said to have been written for Bea Lillie - certainly sung by her, in Set To Music (USA) 1939
Sep.Publ.
NCSB
STA
NCG1
VS CC
Comedy point number. The song was inspired by an Elsa Maxwell beach party in the south of France in 1937 or 1938 to which NC and Beatrice Lillie were invited to come "just as they were", only to discover that the hundred or so guests in full evening dress were expecting them to provide the entertainment. NC records that "this whole glittering episode was my original inspiration" for the song” [NCSB].
Confusion over the "correct" title for this song was caused by the fact that NCL (1965) for some reason gave 'I've Been To a Marvellous Party' as the title, and the rot set in. Up until this point all sources gave 'I Went...' as the title. The contemporary recordings by NC and BL use the 'I've Been...' lyrics only at the start of the second and fourth refrains, which works fine; but the 'I've Been...' version commands little respect as a title, since the lyrics at the end of the verse sections ('On Saturday night -' and 'Wednesday last -) must gramatically be followed by 'I Went...' for the first and third refrains.
This is a song which depends for its effect entirely on its lyrics, and which is most often recited (or worse) rather than sung. In fact its music is little more than a series of accompanying chords, no more than the least obtrusive of musical props, but all the same the accompanying harmonies have form, development and direction. NCR 30 is well-balanced. Bea Lillie on OCR 11 is surprisingly "straight", perhaps because of having to get through the song in a certain limited amount of time for the recording; but her inimitable added laughs and occasional long-drawn-out vowels are, on the whole, more sympathetic to the song than NC's own breakneck pacing and over-accented interpretation on NCR 40.
This song is among the top thirty Coward numbers in terms of current royalties earning potential (see Appendix 3).
NCR 21: orch. cond. Emmet Dolan (Jan.1939)
OCR 11: Beatrice Lillie, pno. acc. Will Irwin (Feb.1939)
NCR 30: pno. acc. Mantovani (1947)
NCR 40: + pno. acc. Peter Matz (1956)
ONR 07: Patricia Routledge (Cowardy Custard, 1972)
ONR 25: Kernan, Robertson, Gold acc. Greenwell (1994)
ONR 52: Elaine Stritch acc. Rob Bowman (At Liberty, 2002)

I WILL NOT KISS YOUR HAND, MADAME
see Appendix 1.a

I WISH I WASN'T QUITE SUCH A BIG GIRL

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:










DISCOGRAPHY:

(1946)
Pacific 1860, 1946 (Daphne Anderson & girls)
Publ.VS (Act I, music No.7)
Point number. The published copy shows one or two minor rhythmic and enharmonic modifications from, but is substantially an exact printing of, one of the earliest and neatest Robb Stewart MSS in the archives.
In view of its strong lyric and musical shape, the refrain at least of this song is something of a neglected treasure. But it is an easy thing to neglect in today's socially correct times, since the premiss is that it needs to be sung by "a big girl", and she bemoans her "strange irresolute glands", being generally ignored and passed over, and the probability that no chap is ever going to make love to her.
There are three crisp 16-bar refrains in gently rhythmic 4/4, two of which are preceeded by a less impressive 'verse' introduction section between Penelope and her girlfriends which sets the thing up.
OCR 13: Daphne Anderson &c. (1946)

ORIGIN:
USE:

SOURCE:


NOTES:























DISCOGRAPHY:

India, June 1944
Concert party tours, 1944
Sigh No More, 1945
Sep.Publ.
NCSB
VS CC
Lyric-based comedy song. It was inspired by NC & Norman Hackforth's host officer during their visit to India, Major Mike Umfreville, one of Mountbatten's ADC's, who had met them on arrival at Ceylon and who was accredited to NC for the whole tour of Assam, India and Burma. NH remembered him as a "jolly pukkah sahib". Entries in the Noel Coward Diaries (unpublished) show that the song was started on June 26th, “worked on” on the 29th, and “finished” on the 30th, for all of which time NC and NH were staying at the villa of a Scottish planter and his wife, Bill and Jean Fleming, at Digboi [NCA]. The song was tried out at a show in Calcutta, "where of course it absolutely pulled the place down" [NH], and "only a very few outraged 'Indian Colonels' protested". [NCSB]
The song mines a rich comedic vein that NC found during his wartime travels, and which also produced 'Uncle Harry' and 'Nina'. The music for the five refrains is little more than chords to spoken verse, but similarly to the song 'Marvellous Party' in its latter stages there is not only structure but pleasing melodic shape without which (at least in the accompaniment) it would be far less satisfactory. The two introductory verses are set to something with more musical shape of its own, with a touch of integrated matching of musical shapes to internal lyric rhymes.
NCR 27 has the dubious distinction of preserving a bit of original lyric which was subsequently thought to be a little too close to the wind for comfort and never afterwards used or published. The final refrain originally began: "Whatever became of old Paddy?/ Have they let out that chap Delavigne?/ There was some beastly story about a golf caddie/ In tears on the seventeenth green." Not hard to understand that suggestions of such loose behaviour would have been altogether too daring for London in 1945, where homosexuality at all was illegal, quite apart from the unsuitable age implications. Equally, it is hard to imagine what the troops in India would have thought of it.
NCR 27: pno. acc. Norman Hackforth (Calcutta, 1944)
NCR 28: pno. acc. Robb Stewart (14 Sep.1945)
OCR 12: Cyril Ritchard (1945)
NCR 40: + orch./pno. acc. Peter Matz (1956)
ONR 07: Trio (Cowardy Custard, 1972)
ONR 25: David Kernan, Paul Bateman (1994)
ONR 16a: Courtney Kenney (2001)

I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY
(FORTUNE TELLING DUET)

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:

1923/24
Yoiks! (Revue) 1924 (Mary Leigh & Richard Dolman)
Unpubl. MS in hand of Elsie April.
Foxtrot-tempo revue duet. It is possible that the song was later considered for inclusion in NCSB, as the archives preserve a further MS with the words added into the music copy in Norman Hackforth's script.
The quality of the song is certainly high enough to warrant publication. It's in the same mood and style as 'I'm So In Love' from the same era, and is certainly no worse. It has a very integrated shared-lyric structure between the lady fortune-teller and her male client who loves (or at least is trying to seduce) her. Interspersed between her phrases saying what she "sees" in his palm are his interjections. The final line - the title words - is a nice twist of word-sense. In the second refrain the roles are reversed.
The other NC song in Yoiks! was FORBIDDEN FRUIT.

I'D NEVER , NEVER KNOW

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:






DISCOGRAPHY:

1949 (in typescript for Hoi Polloi, the forerunner to...)
Ace of Clubs, 1950 (Pat Kirkwood)
Unpubl. MS
Torch song in which Pinkie bemoans the inevitability of the loved one's parting.
It is a shame that the verse section feels a little weak, because the refrain has much to recommend it. It is a controlled piece with an accompaniment whose characterisation (the MS is marked "very legato") is integral to its structure and effect. At the start of the refrain lines the melody is quite static and (unusually and effectively) starts on the interval of the 9th above the keychord. I have long considered this one of the most rewarding pieces in the entire AoC score, and a great shame that it isn't more exposed.
OCR 14: Pat Kirkwood (1950)

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:




NOTES:

DISCOGRAPHY:

Goldenhurst, Kent, 1933
Conversation Piece, 1934 (Yvonne Printemps)
Sep.Publ.
SA1
NCSB
NCG1
VS CC (in medley)
Romantic waltz aria. NC tells the story of its composition, from nowhere and after ten days' futile effort, in the introduction to NCSB. It was a question of finding not only the song but also the major waltz theme around which the rest of the score would hang. "I sat gloomily envisaging everybody's disappointment and facing the fact that my talent had withered and that I should never write any more music until the day I died ... I decided to go to bed. I switched off the lights by the door and noticed that there was one lamp left on by the piano. I walked automatically to turn it off, sat down and played 'I'll Follow My Secret Heart', straight through in G flat, a key I had never played in before."
The piece was however published in G, in which key the melody of this sweeping ballad opens by moving from D through D# to high C, whose effect is echoed and reinforced at the end of the first phrase with the E-high D-Bb of 'whole life through'. This combination of wide-interval progressions gives the song its "lilting, spacious quality". [CP]
Benny Green thought that the very unfamiliarity of the key to NC might go some way towards explaining the mystery of its composition: "The unfamiliar alignments of a strange new key can sometimes have a most inspiriting effect on the executant". He also gets quite eulogistic about the piece: "There is a strong case to be made that IFMSH is the loveliest of all Coward's pieces, the perfect marriage of words and music, the ravishing upward swoops of the melodic line matched by the deeply moving unspoiled sincerity of the words, proclaiming the resolve to defend the purity of romantic dreams from the inroads of reality ... [it] transcends its environment, its time and place, to become one of the great standard songs of the modern era, its musical beauty melting into the depth of its poetic emotion". [BG] (Wow!)
Printemps on OCR 08 is rather charming and light, with good portamenti and pauses to "hold" notes. Even at this early stage of its life the "lift" and break in the flow of melody in the second bar of the refrain after the word "follow" is characteristic.
Sting (ONR 31) was one of the more thoughtful tracks on the Twentieth Century Blues album, with surprisingly accurate harmonies and the melody line set to an unusual and effective harp accompaniment.
This song ranks about fifth in the list of top Coward royalty earners today (see Appendix 3).
ONR 53: "Hutch" (16 Feb 1934)
ONR 08: Henry Hall & BBC Dance Orch. (20 Feb 1934)
OCR 08/NCR 12: Yvonne Printemps & NC (26 Feb 1934)
NCR 26: (in medley) + orch. cond. D. Broekman (Jan 1944)
ONR 54: Frank Sinatra (Apr 1944)
ONR 24: Anne Ziegler + Harry Acres Orch. (Mar 1947)
NCR 30: (in medley) + orch. cond. Mantovani (Jun 1947)
ONR 06: Lily Pons (with NC) + orch. cond. Engel (Jan 1951)
NCR 34: (in medley) pno. acc. N. Hackforth (Dec 1951)
ONR 32a: Harry Noble acc. Stuart Ross (1953)
ONR 29: Georges Tzipine orch. (1954?)
NCR 38: (in medley) acc. Peter Matz (1955)
NCR 41: (in medley) pno. acc. Norman Hackforth (1958)
NCR 48/ONR 14: Joan Sutherland + orch. + NC (1966)
ONR 55: Irene Kral + Loonis McGlohon Trio (1977)
ONR 56: Elizabeth Welch (1989)
ONR 31: Sting (1998)
ONR 28: (in medley) Barbara Lea acc. Keith Ingham (1999)

I'LL REMEMBER HER

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:

NOTES:









DISCOGRAPHY:

(1962)
The Girl Who Came To Supper, 1963 (Jose Ferrer)
Sep.Publ.
NCR
Soliloque love-song, and the final musical number of the show.
It is not the only piece in the show whose character echoes something from the score of My Fair Lady. The corollary song to this one is Lerner & Loewe's closing number, 'I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face'. NC's song is not as well-constructed, so compares unfavourably. It is however both bold and effective that the third note of the main melody, after two upbeats rising in thirds, rests on the major seventh of the scale. After this, the song disappoints, and following a second statement of the main melodic theme it goes nowhere in particular and ends curiously lamely after modulating into the subdominant key.
It is a shame that Keith Michell's BBC radio performance of this song was never commercially available, as it was certainly the most effective performance of any known to the authors.
NCR 46: pno. acc. unknown (Apr 1963)
OCR 20: José Ferrer (Dec 1963)
ONR 20: Lewis Fiander acc. William Blezard (1986)
ONR 12: Harry Groener acc. Tom Fay (1999)

I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:





NOTES:

DISCOGRAPHY:

New York, early 1929
Bitter Sweet, 1929 (Peggy Wood & George Metaxa)
Sep.Publ., in solo and duet versions
AES
SA1
NCSB
NCG1
VS CC (in medley & overture)
Slow waltz aria. Rather similarly to "I'll Follow My Secret Heart' (see above), the genesis of this song was the result not of conscious effort, but "came to me whole and complete in a taxi when I was appearing in New York in This Year of Grace ... my taxi got stuck in a traffic block on the corner of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, klaxons were honking, cops were shouting, and suddenly in the general din there was the melody, clear and unmistakable. By the time I got home the words of the first phrase had emerged." [NCSB]
The song was also published with French lyrics (not by NC) entitled ‘Je Vous Reverrai’ (see Appendix 2b, item 8b).
The song was Coward's biggest immediate "hit" of his career, and thereafter has remained at the top of his musical successes. But enormous success, it seems, is more dependent on straightforwardness rather than musical complexity, as the main refrain of the song stays rooted firmly in the home key. What "lifts" it from mundanity is that the first phrase of the refrain immediately conveys a quality of touching openness on account of its opening figure of a rising-and-falling interval being balanced and complemented in the phrase's second half. Such effective simplicity and lack of artfulness is rare, and (if the story of the song's origin is honest) is confirmation that NC's compositions were sometimes gifts of extraordinary grace.
The Verse section has been described as something of a tour de force: The music (for the singing lesson at the piano) deftly combines the vocal practice arpeggios in the various keys it swiftly touches with a love song of yearning lyricism in the home key. The keychanges are often bold, and figurations in the accompaniment sometimes take over the melodic continuity while the voice is left on a monotone.
Though written as a slow waltz, NCR 37 demonstrates a satisfying faster waltz tempo for this song. NCR 37 also shows an interesting Coward/Hackforth partnership in the Verse section. Nelson Eddy (ONR 61) puts the song firmly back into slow waltz form and at least doesn't do anything that jars. Brian Ferry (ONR 31) is deliberately nostalgic, but straight. There are so many recordings of this piece that one has to be unusually selective with any recommended discography. It is far from being the case that there were no recordings of it between 1967 and 1998! There is an excellent new recording by the American artist Maude Maggart, which demonstrates how the song works well with a very pure-pitched (and young-sounding) trained singer's voice, provided the words are clear and appropriately weighted.
After consistently leading the Coward catalogue for over sixty years, this song at the moment ranks only second in the list of top Coward royalty earners, having been knocked off its pre-eminent perch in recent years by MAD ABOUT THE BOY, on account of the latter's use in numerous TV commercials across Europe, etc. (see Appendix 3). This does not mean that it isn't still the most popularly-known song.
OCR 05: Peggy Wood & George Metaxa (Jun 1929)
ONR 57: Eddie Grossbart + Ambrose Orch. (26 Jul 1929)
ONR 08: Sam Browne + Jack Hylton orch (23 Jul 1929)
NCR 09: acc. Ray Noble (1932)
ONR 58: Anne Lenner + Carroll Gibbons band (1935)
NCR 20: acc. Carroll Gibbons (1938)
OCR 05: Evelyn Laye (1939)
ONR 60: Hildegarde (May 1939)
ONR 59: Arthur Tracy + orch. (1939)
ONR 61: Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy + orch (1940)
NCR 26: (in medley) + orch. cond. David Broekman (1944)
ONR 24: Anne Ziegler + Harry Acres Orch. (Mar 1947)
NCR 30: (in medley) + orch. Mantovani (Jun 1947)
NCR 32: (in medley) acc. Norman Hackforth (1951)
ONR 62: Mario Lanza + Ray Sinatra orch. (1952)
ONR 29: Georges Tzipine orch. (1954?)
NCR 37: +Stott orch., pno. acc. Norman Hackforth (1954)
NCR 38: (in medley) acc. Peter Matz (Jun 1955)
OCR 16: NC (in medley) (Together With Music, Oct 1955)
NCR 40: (in medley) acc. Peter Matz (1956)
NCR 41: (in medley) acc. Norman Hackforth (1958)
ONR 14: Joan Sutherland & John Wakefield (1966)
ONR 63: Frank Sinatra + orch. (1967)
ONR 31: Brian Ferry (1998)
ONR 28: (in medley) Barbara Lea acc. Keith Ingham (1999)
ONR 09a: Michael Law (2002)

I'M A LONELY MAN

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:




DISCOGRAPHY:

(1962) Original version of LONELY (q.v.)
Only in rehearsal for The Girl Who Came To Supper, when it was altered
unpubl. MS
The intro ("Imagine if you can a solitary man...") was retained for the new version. This 'old' refrain is in a similar sort of rhythm and tempo as 'I'm An Ordinary Man' (Lerner & Loewe). Its replacement, though closely dependent on this one in harmonic scope and melodic/lyric elements, is very much the better of the two, with more genuine feeling and a much more generous melody.
NCR 46: + pno. acc. unknown (1963)

I'M A SPY
see Appendix 1.b

I'M MAD ABOUT YOU

ORIGIN:


USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:









DISCOGRAPHY:

(probably 1927; but BD notes that at least this song's title was knocking around as an idea for inclusion in an abortive musical called Dream a Little, around 1924)
This Year of Grace, 1928 (Sheilah Graham & William Cavanagh)
Sep.Publ.
Dance number (quickstep). NC mined a vein of rhythmic snappiness and syncopation for the score of This Year of Grace, and this song is one of the best exemplars. In both verse and refrain sections the strict 4/4 has short accented passages implying 3/4, occuring in the refrain with the repetition of the words "Mad a-bout- ! mad a-bout- ! mad about you" (where the ! represents a cymbal clash on the "empty" "third beat". It's the sort of deliberately confusing cross-rhythm trick that Gershwin pulls with songs such as 'Fascinating Rhythm'.
The song certainly harks back stylistically to slightly earlier in the 20's, and in the snappiness of its dotted-note rhythm and mood shares a good deal with ‘Specially For You’, which also used the trick of implied 3/4 in its closing phrase; but this later song is rather more satisfactorily constructed in terms of balance of the melodic phrases and its harmonic progressions/modulations.
ONR 08 is a convincing demonstration of the song's easy transition to a dance-floor audience.
ONR 08: Eddie Grossbart + Al Starita band (Mar 1928)
OCR 04: (in medley) orch.cond. Ernest Irving (1928)
ONR 07: Ensemble (Cowardy Custard, 1972)
ONR 12: Twiggy & Harry Groener acc. Tom Fay (1999)

I'M NOT A FOOL AS A RULE
see Appendix 1.c

I'M NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL
see Appendix 1.b

I'M OLD FASHIONED
see Appendix 1.a

I'M SO IN LOVE
(I'M SO IN LOVE WITH YOU)

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:

(1925)
On With the Dance, 1925
Sep.Publ.1925
Like 'Couldn't We Keep On Dancing' from the same show, this is a "vocal foxtrot" very much in the style of the time and composed, maybe, with an ear to the possible popular dance-band market.
The introductory verse is melodically simple, two matching 8-bar phrases and a final 6-bar phrase, leading to an unusual refrain melody of construction A4+4, B8, A4+new4, C8. The main theme contrasts slow-moving notes at its start with a spiky dotted-note passage that follows. There's a touch of the wilfully irreverent in the lyrics: "Beneath the spell of your endearing young charms,/ I'd break the Ten Commandments, And jazz the Psalms".
It's the sort of number one expects to find among the many contemporaneous dance-band recordings of Coward's work, and it is mildly surprising that one hasn't (so far) turned up.

I'M SO WEARY OF IT ALL

ORIGIN:
USE:

SOURCE:


NOTES:
















DISCOGRAPHY:

(1938)
Set to Music, USA Jan 1939 (Beatrice Lillie)
All Clear, UK Dec.1939 (Beatrice Lillie)
Sep.Publ. 1938 (first in NY)
NCG2
NCR
Solo revue number, with several different musical sections. From the feel of it, it may have been composed with Beatrice Lillie in mind as performer, since it suits her style of performance so well. OCR 11 is well worth knowing.
Cynical world-weariness is its theme, and it is a most interesting song, with considerable musical variety between the sections and an unusual degree of musical originality/unpredictability in both melodic and harmonic elements. The 24-bar introductory section starts simply enough, with passages of scalic notes strongly reminiscent of the refrain of 'Love Is In The Air Again' (Shapiro/Miller,1934?or before). In the slow-shuffle 32-bar refrain, the melody becomes much more wayward and more than a bit blues-y. A rising interval of the major 7th in the middle of the main phrase is well echoed, and extended to an upwards tenth, in the final phrase. Also, in the "middle 8" there is a nice musical confusion when, to a progression of "crunchy" chromatic harmonies, the accompaniment 'starts' the second phrase before the voice, which then seems to be left with a 'short' line. Two complete refrains are punctuated by a 24-bar Patter section and a 20-bar Allegro in a new key, and the lyrics here are very reminiscent of 'World Weary' or 'Half Caste Woman'. The continued use of violently chromatic harmonies throughout these sections of the song amply illustrate the ennervated, socially-stressed emptiness of the narrator's life.
OCR 11: Beatrice Lillie (1939)
ONR 64: ?Vocalist + Tommy Dorsey Orch. (date unknown)

I'VE BEEN INVITED TO A PARTY

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:


NOTES:











DISCOGRAPHY:

(1962)
The Girl Who Came to Supper, 1963 (Florence Henderson)
Sep.publ.
NCG2
NCR
Fast waltz aria, and the first big waltz of the show. The showgirl Mary gets the wrong end of the stick and believes she has been invited to a glamourous embassy ball, whereas we know the Prince Regent has a quite different agenda behind his invitation.
The main theme (it is specified that the piece should have "a Viennese lilt") is based around the notes of an ascending arpeggio, decorated with little turns of quavers, which captures well the sense of rosy-eyed excited anticipation in its lyric, like a growing dream. The lyrics (with pleasing internal rhyming) and melody form a glove-fitting ensemble which point to simultaneous composition. The first 16-bar phrase is repeated and slightly extended before the waltz swings into a keychange and a more settled new 32-bar section. These are both waltz melodies of satisfying breadth and length, and a convincing demonstration that NC never lost his natural feeling for this style of music.
The song is later reprised as 'I Was Invited to a Party'.
NCR 46: pno. acc. unknown (Apr 1963)
OCR 20: Florence Henderson (Dec 1963)

I'VE BEEN TO A MARVELLOUS PARTY
see I WENT TO A MARVELLOUS PARTY

IF I WERE A MAN

ORIGIN:
USE:

SOURCE:
NOTES:






DISCOGRAPHY:

(1946)
Pacific 1860, 1946 (Ann Martin, Islin Hall, Peggy Thompson, Jay O’Neil, Dapne Peretz and Ann Sulivan)
VS
A long and lyrically rewarding number near the start of the show, in which one by one we are given glimpses into the various girls' (and boys') characters as they react to the same hypothesis. Some passages of dialogue are exchanged over music between the various verses. Some sections move into new keys and most show melodic variation, but the whole is integrated to a gently-swinging 6/8 barcarolle rhythm. Not much mileage as a piece of songwriting outside its context - but as that never bothered NC why should it bother anyone else?
OCR 13: (as above) (1946)

IF LOVE WERE ALL

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:


NOTES:




























DISCOGRAPHY:

(1928)
Bitter Sweet 1929 (Act 2 Sc.1) (Ivy St. Helier)
Sep.Publ.
NCSB
NCG1
A sort of torch song, but rather more oblique in sentiment than that description alone could suggest. Set in a gentle 4/4 tempo, it is a song of controlled desire, and perhaps because of that and on account of it being the origin of all those ubiquitous ‘Talent to Amuse’ titles, it is rather too often considered to be significantly autobiographical. It happened, nevertheless, to be the last song which NC himself ever performed in public (Claridge's, November 1972) [BD].There is also a French version of the song, with lyrics not by NC, from the French production of Au Temps des Valses, as Bitter Sweet was known, entitled ‘Chanson de la Crevette’ (see Appendix 2b, item 8c).
The lyrics provide the piece with forceful poignancy and the melody is an effective match, in the refrain contrasting a first phrase of simplicity and pathos with a second legato phrase expressing the resigned wistfulness of 'Heigho' on falling intervals. The ear expects the phrase to end at "Heigho, if love were all" on a falling fourth, and is then delighted when "I should be lonely" follows. One strength of the song lies in the fact that in its final statement this phrase is indeed condensed, and then completed by a rising fourth. The "middle 8" section modulates and uses a bright little melody of rising and falling scale notes, particularly well-matched to a change in the lyric mood at this point, and providing perfect balance and contrast to the rest of the refrain.
This song ranks about fourth in the list of top Coward royalty earners today (see Appendix 3), its popularity doubtless having been enhanced by the fact that everyone from Sheridan Morley onwards has used the number - or at least the crucial extract - in every Coward compilation and biographical sketch as "his theme-song". Even if not strictly an 'autobiographical' song, it is a most fitting and elegantly-crafted memorial.
Ivy St. Helier (OCR 05) has an idiosyncratic voice rather in the Piaf mould, but you can hear that she would have been very effective in characterising the number on stage. Ashe's French accent is well-judged on ONR 01. Well-paced also, and with a Gallic hard edge to her voice, is D'Alba on ONR 04, though the overall effect here is rather spoiled by a horrible orchestral intro. For raw intensity, the extract included by Elaine Stritch on ONR 71 takes a bit of beating, and ONR 09a is poignant on account of it being the last public performance given by Judy Campbell, one of Coward’s original “leading ladies”, before her own death in 2004.
OCR 05: Ivy St. Helier (Jun 1929)
ONR 08: (in selection) Sam Browne+Hylton orch. (23 Jul 1929)
ONR 65: Eddie Grossbart + Ambrose Orch. (26 Jul 1929)
NCR 32: (in medley) pno. acc. Norman Hackforth (1951)
NCR 38: (in medley) acc. Peter Matz (1955)
NCR 41: (in medley) acc. Norman Hackforth (1958)
ONR 66: Mabel Mercer + orch. (1958)
ONR 67: Judy Garland + orch (1961)
ONR 04: Julia D'Alba + Johnny Douglas orch. (1969)
ONR 05: Bobby Short (1972)
ONR 26: Barbara Casson (Oh Coward!, 1972)
ONR 68: Shirley Bassey + orch. (date unknown)
ONR 69: Irene Kral + Loonis McGlohon Trio (1977)
ONR 01: Rosemary Ashe + Sadler's Wells orch. (1988)
ONR 70: Lesley Garrett + orch. (1995)
ONR 12: Twiggy & Harry Groener (1999)
ONR 28: Barbara Lea acc. Keith Ingham (1999)
ONR 71: Elaine Stritch + Rob Bowman orch (2002)
ONR 09a: Judy Campbell acc. Michael Law (2002)

IF ONLY A GIRL COULD BE SURE
see Appendix 1.b

ORIGIN:

USE:

SOURCE:
NOTES:









DISCOGRAPHY:

1962, in the form of FREE SPEECH (qv), the middle verse section of whose musical material it reuses
intended for The Girl Who Came to Supper 1963 but it did not survive rehearsals
Unpubl. MS
NCR 46 preserves the song in this form, and it's a bit of a mystery why the FREE SPEECH version still existed in MS with the rest of the MS material during preparations for TG. It could be that a whole series of MSS were prepared in, say, Jamaica during 1962 before the demo tape was made in April 1963.
The original title words "Free speech, free religion, free press" are preserved as part of the wordy main refrain, but it becomes Mary's eulogy to her former schoolteacher Mrs Applejohn's political philosophies rather than Mary's own interpretation of American political freedoms, and dramatically it is a much more convincing way of presenting the same material. The Prince Regent uses a repetition of the same musical material to lampoon Mary's beliefs and attitudes. It is a dramatic, conversational piece of writing, whose music is pleasant enough and a well-fitting vehicle for the words but which lacks memorability.
NCR 46: pno. acc. unknown (1963)

IF WE COULD ONLY BE JUST PEOPLE
see JUST PEOPLE

IF WE'D MET
see Appendix 1.b

IF YOU COULD ONLY COME WITH ME

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:

NOTES:







DISCOGRAPHY:

(1928)
Bitter Sweet, 1929 (Act 1 Sc.2) (George Metaxa)
VS
NCSB
A wistful colla voce ballad-aria with some surprising harmonic shifts and juxtapositions. This is a short piece, consisting only of a repeated 8-bar phrase with a slightly extended ending, but its simplicity is the key to its effectiveness. The delight of the piece is in the subtle chromatic shifts in both accompanying harmonies and the melodic lines which allow seamless and slightly "bitter-sweet" shifts between two "incompatible" keys. The vocal line weaves a melodic web around held chords in the accompaniment, and is given an exotic modal touch in its last descending phrase, which at the end becomes a rising whole-tone scale, vanishing into a dreamy stratosphere.
OCR 05: George Metaxa (1929)
NCR 09: acc. Ray Noble (1932)
ONR 02: James Pease + orch (1961)
ONR 03: Roberto Cardinali + orch (1962)
ONR 23: Ian Bostridge acc. Jeffrey Tate (2002)

IF YOU WILL BE MY MORGANATIC WIFE
see Appendix 1.a

IMAGINE THE DUCHESS'S FEELINGS

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:


NOTES:





















DISCOGRAPHY:

London, c. 12 July 1941[CL]
No Show
Sep.Publ.1941
STA
NCG2
Further to CL above, pages of the Noel Coward Diaries which remained unpublished make clear the extraordinary burst of concentrated – and effective! – songwriting that Coward undertook at this time.  Between June 2nd and July 21 all four of the main batch of “wartime” songs – ‘London Pride’, ‘Could You Please Oblige Us With a Bren Gun?’, ‘There Have Been Songs in England’ and this one – went from inspiration to publication and/or recording. ‘Duchess’ appears to have been started around July 12th, had a further two verses written on the 19th, and the finished product was dictated to an amanuensis at Chappells on the 21st. This is a delightfully underplayed comedy song, and oddly little known (though its lyrics are no more dated than many other better-known songs'). In some ways it is the joker among the mid-war compositions, being neither patriotic (LONDON PRIDE and THERE HAVE BEEN SONGS...) nor exactly burlesque (DON'T LET'S BE BEASTLY... and COULD YOU PLEASE OBLIGE US...).
A verse showing NC at his most inventive, with three utterly different melodic/rhythmic themes in close succession, leads into a refrain which presages much of NC's best post-war comedy cabaret works, and which suffers only from lack of lyric length and therefore thematic musical development - the refrain seems to "need" a middle eight-bar section which it does not possess, and one is surprised that its end comes quite so soon. The lyrics are quite clever, with each of the three verses finding different ways of including the words 'white', 'blue' and 'red' in the final couplet when comparing the attributes of the duchess's three sons.
Carroll Gibbons' accompaniment on NCR 23 is peerless - among other merits a very good demonstration of how to accompany without doubling the melody.
NCR 23: acc. Carroll Gibbons (1941)
ONR 32a: Harry Noble acc. Stuart Ross (1953)
ONR 05: Bobby Short (1972)

IN A BOAT ON A LAKE WITH MY DARLING

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:

NOTES:
















DISCOGRAPHY:

(June/July 1950)
Ace of Clubs, 1950 (club floorshow) (Jean Carson and Myles Eason)
Sep.Publ.
VS CC
This song was not in the pre-London show, but by the time it reached London (July 7th) the number had been slotted in before I LIKE AMERICA to become the second half opener. It is perhaps questionable whether it is better for the purpose than what it replaced.
I have always had misgivings about the inherent quality of this song. Again, there is nothing that jars, nothing actually wrong with structure, lyric or melody, just not anything particularly developed or pleasingly right with it. The main refrain-line rhyme of 'Darling' with 'starling' is perhaps rather lame and unconvincing. In fact the song's lyric, in common with some other AoC numbers, is altogether rather anodyne. Diaries entries suggest that he tackled the writing of this show with a no-nonsense approach, trying to construct a story specifically angled to catch a more modern mood. I think this song demonstrates that his heart was not really in it.
The refrain melody is smooth and steady in flowing 2/2 tempo, thematically integrated around the pattern of its first three notes, a rising fourth that drops back onto the third. But because of the structure of the lyrics it doesn't have time to go anywhere much. The first eight-bar phrase is well-complemented by another, and there is surely potential for further musical development at this point; but instead we get only a repetition of the theme and its balancing end-phrase - and that's that!
OCR 14: Pat Kirkwood & Graham Payn (1950)
ONR 71a: Graham Payn + orch, intro. By NC

IN WHICH WE SERVE
(See entry on Appendix 1.d for further notes on the unused music, and also HEAVENLY MOMENT in main index above)

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:




















DISCOGRAPHY:

1942
Film Soundtrack, 1942
Pno.sel. (Arr. Elsie April) publ. 1942
The published piano selection presented several of the soundtrack's musical themes:
1) Flotilla
2) Ship Theme
3) Shipyard Music
4) Kinross Home
5) Shorty And Freda
6) Waltz Theme (unnamed)
7) Ship Theme
As one might imagine, the actual use of music on the soundtrack is rather more complex than represented in the above, with repeated re-uses of the more significant themes. A significant theme on the soudtrack which was not included in the piano selection is OFFICER'S THEME, and episodes known (in the manuscript sketches) as RIPPLE No.1 and COMMISSIONING are also featured on the soundtrack. No.6 above, WALTZ THEME, was originally titled as SHORTY AND FREDA's theme, while No.5 was originally known as just SHORTY BLAKE. Entries in the Noel Coward Diaries which remained unpublished reveal that the bulk of the composition of the score occurred during May-June 1942.  On June 6th NC “dictated the ‘Ship’ theme to Elsie [April]. I have taken her back into the fold, poor old girl. She knows my music better than anyone else and I feel a bit sorry for her, anyway”, and there are several other references of the nature “worked all day at music with Elsie”.  The score was complete enough to show to Muir Mathieson, who was to conduct it, on July 1st.  MM was apparently “delighted with the music”.
ONR 72: Mantovani Orch. (1947)

INCIDENTAL MUSIC
see Appendix 1.d

INCIDENTAL MUSIC (PACIFIC 1860)

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:

(1946)
Pacific 1860, 1946
Publ.VS
1. Betw. 'This is a Night' and 'I Never Knew' (Act II)
2. Betw. 'Gipsy Melody' and 'My Horse...' (reprise) (Act III)
3. Betw. 'Wedding Chorus' and 'Finale' (Act III)
The first two of these are fairly marginal compositions, one covering some dialogue and both including snatches of other waltz themes. The third is a longer (60-bar) allegro moderato passage in swinging 6/8 tempo with two fully-developed new themes, in Eb and C.

INCIDENTAL MUSIC (SHADOW PLAY)

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:

(1935?)
unused?
(Unpubl.) MS in Estate archives (Elsie April)
Though the ascriptions on the MS are specific, I have not been able to establish where in the play this music might have been placed, nor if in fact it was ever used.
It is a lush, romantic mood-piece, richly chordal, and directed to be played "nice and swoony". Four introductory bars in Ab switch straight into a main theme in A, which itself does a great deal more keyshifting during its 26 bars. Some short figurations for three muted horns a la Richard Strauss are detailed on a separate line, and other parts of the piece have orchestration notes at various points. It ends quietly and firmly in C. It would certainly have fitted the mood of the play, and has strong links with the shifting, foggy harmonic direction of the song 'Then'.

INTERLUDE/ ENTRANCE OF BURROWS

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:

(1935)
Tonight at 8:30: Family Album
Publ.VS (Music Nos. 4 - 5 - 6)
All extremely short and the music of 'Emily Married...'

INTRODUCTION AND HORNPIPE
(SAILOR)

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:
DISCOGRAPHY:

Early Dec. 1958, New York [NCD]
London Morning (ballet) Music Nos.5 and 6
Publ.pno.score. No. 5/6
Exactly what it says on the packet. I suppose one could count it as another pastiche.
OCR 17: LPO Cond. Corbett (1959)
ONR 11: Prague Phil. Cond. Robin White (1995)

INTRODUCTION AND MAZURKA
(TARTS & BUSINESSMEN)

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:


DISCOGRAPHY:

Sept/Oct 1958, Bermuda [NCD]
London Morning (ballet) Music Nos. 3 and 4
Publ.pno.score. No 3/4
A Policeman moves the crowds along, followed by the Mazurka. Another pastiche, and a good one. Satisfyingly and convincingly maintained through different phrases over nearly 150 bars of music.
OCR 17: LPO Cond. Corbett (1959)
ONR 11: Prague Phil. Cond. Robin White (1995)

INVITATION TO THE WALTZ

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:

NOTES:







DISCOGRAPHY:

(1946)
Pacific 1860, 1946 (Act II chorus opening)
Publ.VS
+ extract in sep. publ. Pno.Sel.
Chorus waltz. A flirtacious dialogue between the girls and the men leads into a Dance on the same music. All the music is more briefly reprised in the third act in the full chorus number THIS IS THE NIGHT (which passes rather roguish comments on the eve of the big wedding). Two main themes (in C and Ab respectively) are alternated, and the music is set to various pairings or full combinations of voice parts. The second half of the Ab theme has a Viennese post-Bitter Sweet charm, with the female voices bouncing off an empty first beat with little rushes of upwards notes in thirds, which is later developed into a more extended passage where they sing "tra-la-la"'s over a male counter-melody.
OCR 13: Chorus (1946)

IRISH SONG

ORIGIN:
USE:

SOURCE:
NOTES:









DISCOGRAPHY:

1954
Café de Paris, 1954
An Evening with Beatrice Lillie (1954)
VS CC
The idea for a character called Rosie O'Grady dates from the composition of After The Ball around New Year 1954. (The tune of the song LONDON AT NIGHT was originally set to a lyric about a woman called Rosie O'Grady.) It seems clear that this was one of the three "new" NC songs that BL mentioned were included that year in her one-woman show An Evening With Beatrice Lillie. NC himself noted in passing his own use of it "at the Café de Paris last Monday ... the new songs all went wonderfully and 'Piccola Marina' is obviously a rouser" [NCD, 24 Oct 54] . Its charm lies in the irreverent and surprising non-sequitor punchlines, all of which of course rhyme delightfully with their set up lines.
It is a comedian's song - very theatrical: anticipating the audience and timing the delivery of punchlines is everything.
ONR 73: Beatrice Lillie acc. Eadie & Rack (1955)
ONR 16a: Courtney Kenny (2001)

IS SHE HAPPY?
see Appendix 1.c

ISH CON BROSHKA
see CHAUVE-SOURIS

ISLAND OF BOLLAMAZOO, THE

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:



DISCOGRAPHY:

(1937)
Operette, 1938 (Edward Cooper & Chorus)
Publ.VS
Pastiche chorus-number (fast waltz), as if from a typical musical comedy of 1900. The subject is, broadly, all the delightful goings-on that can occur on a tropical island in the absence of civilized restraint. Three well-worked 32-bar comedy refrains, with little links between during which various stage exits and entrances take place.
ONR 26: Cook, Ross & Cason (Oh Coward!, 1972)

ISN'T THERE ANY LITTLE THING
see Appendix 1.a

IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW OLD YOU ARE

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:


NOTES:

(1927)
This Year of Grace, 1928 (Maisie Gay)
Publ. VS
CPA1
NCG2
A saucy revue point number for the older woman. It could be considered a second run on the idea of THERE'S LIFE IN THE OLD GIRL YET. This song was actually dropped in September 1928 from TYOG and replaced by a third similar number, WHAT LOVE MEANS... , which had originally been included in London Calling!
I do not know why it was dropped, unless her public were clamouring to hear Maisie Gay do 'What Love Means...' again, which is perfectly possible. It seems a little unfair, because 'It Doesn't Matter ...' is a pretty good song. Both verses (2) and refrains (3) are poised and pleasing. Definitely worth a revival in the right context.

IT ISN'T WHAT YOU DO
see Appendix 1.c

IT WAS HORRID
see Appendix 1.c

IT'S ALL VERY PRETTY
see MRS 'ARRIS

IT'S ALWAYS THE MAN THAT'S PURSUED

ORIGIN:
USE:


SOURCE:

NOTES:

(1934?)
Planned for inclusion in the 1934 US revival of Bitter Sweet in Washington, but cut before the production reached Broadway. Its place was in Act 2 in the café, immediately after IF LOVE WERE ALL.
The lyrics survive in copy of the book of BS held in the Schubert Archive, New York (& see BD)
MUSIC LOST
One wonders quite why the song was included in the first place - adding to an already tried and tested and successful show seems so superfluous - unless [as BD p.117 suggests] its intent was to provide a little light relief from an emotionally extended passage.

IT'S ONLY ME
see Appendix 1.b

ITALIAN CANZONETTA
see Appendix 1.d

ITALIAN INTERLUDE
also known as ITALIAN BALLET SEQUENCE or NEW TAORMINA

ORIGIN:
USE:
SOURCE:
NOTES:

(1961)
Sail Away, 1961
Unpubl. MS
The sequence of non-lyric dance music includes: a long TARANTELLE, ROCK & ROLL ("OH BAMBINO YO TIAMO"), DRINKING, another TARANTELLE, and PART II: GALOP. I am not quite sure where exactly in the show this sequence ran.