Line #22 Music/ColePorter


1	[[quoteright:252:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cole_Porter_7072.jpg]]
2	->''"My sole inspiration is a telephone call from a director."''
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4	Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was a writer of popular songs from the 1920s to the 1950s. He wrote for several musicals, mostly in the [[TheThirties 1930s]], that had very slim, loose plots. Those musicals were an excuse for beautiful women, comic gags, one-liners and, most of all, musical numbers. His most famous play is ''Theatre/KissMeKate'' from [[TheForties 1948]], which is about [[TheMusicalMusical putting on a production of]], believe it or not, ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew'', but his real claim to fame is his urbane, witty songs, like "I Get A Kick Out of You" and "Night and Day".
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6	Porter is especially well known for list songs, like "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)", "You're the Top" and "Brush Up Your Shakespeare". His songs have been recorded from the 1930s to the 1960s by such big stars of the time Creator/FredAstaire, Music/EllaFitzgerald, Creator/EthelMerman, Music/FrankSinatra, and Music/LouisArmstrong. On a side note, Porter was gay, which [[RealitySubtext shows in some of his songs]] that deal with things like forbidden, impossible or unrequited love.
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8	[[AC:List of notable film/theatre scores]]
9	* ''Fifty Million Frenchmen'' (1929)
10	* ''The [[HaveAGayOldTime Gay]] Divorce'' (filmed as ''Film/TheGayDivorcee)'' (1932)
11	* ''Theatre/AnythingGoes'' (1934)
12	* ''[=DuBarry=] Was a Lady'' (1939)
13	* ''The Pirate'' (1947)
14	* ''Theatre/KissMeKate'' (1948)
15	* ''Theatre/CanCan'' (1953)
16	* ''Film/SilkStockings'' (1954)
17	* ''Film/HighSociety'' (1956)
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19	----
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21	!!Cole Porter's songs are examples of these tropes:
22	* {{Bowdlerise}}:
23	** The lyrics to "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" (written in TheRoaringTwenties) were changed because it contained racial slurs [[ValuesDissonance which were later deemed inappropriate]].
24	** "I Get a Kick Out of You" was often performed with the line "Some get a kick from cocaine" bowdlerized to "perfume from Spain" or "a bop-type refrain." Creator/FrankSinatra recorded the uncensored version in the 1950s, but switched to the censored version for the rest of his career.
25	* BreakupSong: "Just One Of Those Things".
26	* DoubleEntendre: "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" among others. Of course, sometimes, Cole was not so subtle, and skipped straight to "Let's Misbehave."
27	* GettingEatenIsHarmless: "The Tale of the Oyster" tells of an oyster who gets to experience high society after being harvested and served at a posh restaurant. The oyster gets eaten, but that's not the end of the tale: as the woman who ate him travels home in her yacht, she gets seasick and empties her stomach over the side, and the oyster ends up back on the sea floor where he started, none the worse for the experience.
28	* HaveAGayOldTime: Inverted; his song "Farming" from the 1941 musical ''Let's Face It'' was the first to explicitly use the modern meaning of "gay" (though earlier songs had at least hinted at it).
29	-->''Don't inquire of Georgie Raft\
30	Why his cow has never calfed,\
31	Georgie's bull is beautiful, but he's gay!''
32	* ListSong: "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)", "You're the Top", "Brush Up Your Shakespeare", "Anything Goes", etc...
33	* PatterSong: "Let's Not Talk About Love," among others.
34	* QueerFlowers: His 1929 song "I'm a Gigolo," in which the singer says he has a dash of lavender and that he can be found next to a passionless dowager.
35	* PrimitiveClubs: "Find Me a Primitive Man" compares men who belong to clubs (as in associations) with the kind sought for in the song, an actual primitive with a physical club.
36	-->I don't mean the kind that belongs to a club,\
37	But the kind that has a club that belongs to him.
38	* RepurposedPopSong:
39	** "I've Got You Under My Skin", repurposed as "I've Got You Under My Rim" for a toilet bowl cleanser commercial. If it's any comfort, Porter's executor admitted he'd botched the request.
40	** The same for "It's De-Lovely", being used by the [=DeSoto=] Motor Company in its 1950s advertisement.
41	---> It's de-lovely, it's dynamic, it's [=DeSoto=]!
42	* RussianReversal: "Anything Goes" -- [if the pilgrims could see what had become of American society], "Instead of landing on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock would land on them!"
43	* ShoutOut: [[ReferenceOverdosed To anyone and everyone]]. From politicians, to actors, to characters from literature, no reference was too obscure or too popular. Basically, if he could rhyme it, he would use it. And he could ALWAYS rhyme it. One such example is to Alfred Kinsey, of all people, in "Too Darn Hot".
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45	!!Cole Porter's work outside of his songs is an example of these tropes:
46	* {{Biopic}}: ''Film/{{Night and Day\|1946}}'' (1946, starring Creator/CaryGrant) and ''De-Lovely'' (2004, portrayed by Creator/KevinKline), both of which were [[TitledAfterTheSong named after songs of his]]. The former was highly fictionalized, while the latter was closer to Porter's life and addressed his homosexuality. As Kline was a better singer than Porter, he had to [[HollywoodToneDeaf tone down his ability]] a bit.
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Context Music / ColePorter