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Thursday 22 December 2016

Words for the Music 008: LORENZ HART




LORENZ HART
2 May 1895 – 22 November 1943





 
I WISH I WERE IN LOVE AGAIN
 
Written by LORENZ HART and RICHARD RODGERS
 
Performed by FRANK SINATRA
 
from the 1956 Capitol LP  
 
A Swingin' Affair






 
 
I WISH I WERE IN LOVE AGAIN


 
The sleepless nights, the daily fights
The quick toboggan when you reach the heights
I miss the kisses and I miss the bites
I wish I were in love again

 
The broken dates, the endless waits
The lovely loving and the hateful hates
The conversation with the flying plates
I wish I were in love again

 
No more pain, no more strain
Now I'm sane but
I would rather be punch-drunk

 
The pulled out fur of cat and cur
The fine mis-mating of a him and her
I've learned my lesson but
I wish I were in love again

 
The furtive sigh, the blackened eye
The words 'I love you till the day I die'
The self-deception that believes the lie
I wish I were in love again

 
When love congeals it soon reveals
The faint aroma of performing seals
The double-crossing of a pair of heels
I wish I were in love again

 
No, no more care, no, no despair
Now I'm all there now but
I'd rather be punch-drunk

 
Believe me sir, I much prefer
The classic battle of a him and her
I don't like quiet and
I wish I were in love again
In love again
In love again 







Words by Lorenz Hart
Music by Richard Rodgers
© 1937 Chappell & Co Music/Williamson Music ASCAP
from the musical Babes In Arms






 
 
What makes a lyricist a genius?  Is it their ability to dazzle us with their extensive vocabularyOr is it their artful use of everyday language to astonish, amuse and genuinely move us by combining unexpected words and phrases to create something that resists cliché and categorization even as, in another sense, it might appear to embrace if not define those over-utilized tropes?  


A song like I Wish I Were In Love Again proves, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Lorenz Hart was the latter type of artist –– a sensitive, educated, highly articulate individual who possessed a faultless understanding of modern North American vernacular and used this knowledge of it to create instantly memorable works of art which, in his time, were often dismissed as popular entertainment that, of course, would 'never last.' 

How many lyricists, then or now, are able to combine words like 'toboggan,' 'mis-mating,' 'self-deception,' 'furtive' and, my favorite, 'congeals' in such a seamless way while simultaneously managing to be riotously funny even as they suggest a sophisticated but world-weary form of loneliness?  If Hart had never written anything besides the lines 'When love congeals/it soon reveals/The faint aroma of performing seals/The double-crossing of a pair of heels' he would still be the greatest lyricist to emerge from the Broadway/Tin Pan Alley tradition despite having some formidable competition in the likes of Harold Arlen, Dorothy Fields, Ira Gershwin, Frank Loesser, Cole Porter and many others whose names are not as well known as they should be despite the fact their songs continue to serve as the soundtracks to many of our lives.  

There is a reason people keep performing Rodgers and Hart material decade after decade.  It is the same reason directors keep staging productions of Shakespeare and actors keep lining up to perform in them –– to live with and inside that glorious language for a while and be reminded that true wit, like true talent, is as fine as gossamer and just as difficult to find.   


 

 
 
Use the links below to read more about the life and work of North American lyricist LORENZ HART (1895–1943) and a 2013 article about his successful but often tempestuous partnership with RICHARD RODGERS:
 
 
 
 
 


 

 

 

Special thanks to everyone who takes the time to upload music to YouTube.  Your efforts are appreciated by music lovers everywhere.

 

 

 

You might also enjoy:

 
Words for the Music 005: DAVE FRISHBERG

 

 
J is for Jazz 012: HELEN MERRILL

 

 
J is for Jazz 005: SARAH VAUGHAN

 

 

Last updated 5 April 2021 

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