Today’s musical selection is a two-song medley of gems written by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers.
I recorded it many years ago with pianist Doug Hammer when I was putting together an hour-long program of songs with lyrics by Larry (Lorenz’s nickname) Hart.
Not only is Doug’s piano accompaniment extremely playful and inventive, Mr. Hart’s lyrics sit on Mr. Rodger’s music so comfortably and eloquently!
I wrote a blog post a while back about Larry Hart which you can read by clicking here.
I won’t repeat what I shared in that post about Mr. Hart’s life — which was a very generous (and at times heart-breakingly sad) one.
Instead I will share a little bit about these two songs.
“You Took Advantage Of Me” was first performed by a very tall guy nicknamed “Buzz” in the 1928 musical PRESENT ARMS.
Busby Berkeley (who had grown up in the world of theater) choreographed a bunch of musicals on Broadway — and then went on to choreograph and direct a bunch of movies in Hollywood.
Wikipedia tells us that on opening night Buzz forgot the lyrics to the second verse of “You Took Advantage of Me.”
Maybe he had been too focused on the choreography for the show?
Apparently he sang scat syllables during the second verse, and the audience thought it was funny, and Larry Hart eventually forgave him…
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
WIkipedia also tells us that it was a favorite song of the Prince Of Wales (Edward VIII), who once requested that Morton Downey — a very popular Irish-American tenor — perform it eleven times at a cafe in London.
The somewhat abusive message of the lyrics reminds me of another uptempo Rodgers & Hart uptempo song in which Larry writes “the furtive sigh, the blackened eye, the self-deception that believes the lie… I wish I were in love again.”
Nowadays — in this era of date rape drugs, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and more than one former president of the United States— our songs are much less likely to playfully jest about someone taking advantage of someone else.
Another deep breath in.
And out.
The second song, “I Could Write A Book,” was created for the 1940 musical PAL JOEY.
It was introduced by another dancer, Gene Kelly, who went from performing on Broadway to become a huge success — as a dancer, actor, singer, choreographer and director — in Hollywood.
The rhyming is quintessential Larry Hart, and I love the literate theme of the song.
Larry was very well educated and could speak English and German (and I am guessing Yiddish, too, since his Jewish parents had emigrated from Germany…)
He met future collaborators and friends such as lyricist/librettist/producer Oscar Hammerstein, composer/producer Richard Rodgers, and librettist brother Herbert Fields (along with his younger sister, the lyricist/librettist Dorothy Fields) while he was studying at Columbia University.
And Larry was also (on his mother’s side) the great-grandnephew of Heinrich Heine, whose poetry had been set to music by both Schumann and Schubert.
Perhaps this lineage helped inspire/embolden him to become a lyricist!
He was employed early in his career by the Schubert brothers as a translator of German plays into English.
He went on to co-create 26 Broadway musicals with Richard Rodgers as well as songs for many several Hollywood musicals — although they were much less happy working in the movie business, because they had much less power regarding how (or even if) their songs were used in a particular film.
Some of Larry’s other hit songs with Richard Rodgers include “My Funny Valentine,” “Blue Moon,” “The Lady Is A Tramp,” “Isn’t It Romantic,” “My Romance,” and “Where or When.”
Thank you for reading and listening to another one of my blog posts!
Thank you to the wonderful photographers at Pixabay (and the public domain images at Wikimedia).
And thank you to Doug Hammer for his terrific piano playing and patient engineering/producing chops.
If you like this two-song medley well enough to listen to it again, you are welcome to stream it by clicking here.
You may have read in a previous blog post about how Spotify abruptly changed its payment procedures at the beginning of this year.
They are no longer paying royalties to the owners of any recording which earns fewer than 1000 streams per year.
My recording with Doug of “You Took Advantage of Me/I Could Write A Book” has been streamed 569 times on Spotify since it was released at on October 6, 2023.
So I have five months to (I hope) drum up another 431 streams and reach their 1000-stream payment threshold…
May you continue to read and write and sing and dance — AND engage with our country’s political progress — for many years to come!
And you are always welcome to visit my musical website by clicking here.
amusicalifeonplanetearth 
I’m sorry to hear Spotify are once again shafting creatives. I may be the only person on the planet that refuses to use it on point of principal, but I hope you get your streams.
Thank you for reading and listening to my post! And hurrah that you are not using Spotify! We are living in an era where business leaders are admired and celebrated for shafting the little guy — whether it’s the creative community or service workers (I just read an explanation about how venture capitalists sold all of Red Lobsters real estate after they bought that restaurant chain which now means that individual restaurants are having to pay higher and higher rent — one of the many factors leading to them being about to declare bankruptcy if I am understanding this sad situation correctly…) or nurses/medical workers in hospitals which have been bought by venture capitalists/hedge funds, etc. etc. etc. Too many billionaires on this planet right now. I find a little bit of hope in recent union wins, however!
I try to be optimistic but the pursuit of disgustingly amounts of money seems to be aspirational now. Solidarity.
I love your version of the song and most interesting history too.
THANK YOU for reading and listening, Cindy! Your wonderful photos lift my spirits on a regular basis. Please keep them coming!
Will, this is a terrific post. I had to go back to your original post about Hart (I didn’t know you to follow you back then) to get a backstory. Wow. You must have so many questions you would love to ask him. This is some of my favorite music.
THANK YOU far taking the time to read TWO blog posts in one sitting, Jennie. I love the songs he wrote with Dick Rodgers. As he became more and more alcoholic and unhappy, he became more and more of a challenge to collaborate with… which is a big reason why (supposedly with Hart’s permission) Rodgers reached out to their mutual friend Oscar “Ockie” Hammerstein to do the project which turned into OKLAHOMA. And yes, I would love to ask Larry all sorts of empathetic questions and then deeply listen to his responses. On a very human but somewhat unsavory note, it appears from some biographies that Richard Rodgers may have cheated Larry Hart’s family out of significant song royalties after Larry’s death — perhaps as retribution/compensation for how difficult it had been to work with him in the later stages of their collaboration… Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Life is complicated! Thank goodness for music!!!
Reading two posts was a joy, Will. Really! That’s so interesting, albeit sad. I can understand why Rogers reached out to Hammerstein given Hart’s condition. When Oklahoma became a hit, that must have been a bitter pill for Hart to swallow. Yes, life is complicated, and thank goodness for music!
You know I saw Oklahoma for my tenth birthday. I have two more heartfelt stories to tell you. As a teenager I stayed up late at night, because after the 11:00 news there was a movie. One night my sister and I were watching Carousel. Our mother came downstairs to join us. She had seen South Pacific in NYC. Rogers and Hammerstein was big in our family. When the song “When You Walk Through s Storm” came on, she cried. We had never seen our mother cry. Ever! You can imagine what that was like for two teenage daughters. Again, thank goodness for music!
Hubby and I were in NYC visiting my brother and his partner. We all went to a great bar where the Broadway singers hang out. Suddenly everybody at the bar burst into song. It was a Rogers and Hammerstein song. Looking around I realized I was the only female there (how cool is that), and it was one of the best musical experiences. Again, thank goodness for music!
What lovely stories about the power of music — Rodgers & Hammerstein songs in particular — in your family’s life! Seeing/hearing a parent shed tears for the first time IS a significant rite of passage. And seeing/hearing Oklahoma when you were ten years old may have also been a significant rite of passage in your life. I have a personal theory that Oscar’s lyric at the end of “Many A New Day” was a coded bow of respect to Larry (who apparently attended the opening night of Oklahoma and was very positive and enthusiastic, bless him…) “Blue Moon” was one of Rodgers & Hart’s biggest hits, and Oscar writes: “Many a new day will dawn/Many a red sun will set/Many a blue moon will shine before I do.” Waddya think? ps: Hurrah for places like piano bars (and churches) where people still gather to sing together!
Thank you, Will, and much appreciated you telling me the stories of Hart. Really nice that he attended the opening night of Oklahoma with such positivity. I think you’re right that Oscar’s lyric was a coded bow of respect. Music is very powerful and emotional- thank goodness.
Will,
Your music and your blogs are balm for my soul.
As well as the topics you choose.
Thank you for those deep breaths.
Justin
Lovely to hear from your, Justin! Yes, we need all the deep, calming breaths we can muster these days. And plenty of music! Yet another deep breath in. And deep breath out.
Your voice is lovely and clear in this rendition–just gets better and better, IMO, Will. I join the other commenters with gratitude for both the music and the related history. I’m not on Spotify; wish I could help you reach the magic number! And always, deep breath in, deep breath out!
Thank you for your positive feedback! There are so many options for listening to music and podcasts these days. I am not sure why I am stubbornly pursuing the 1000+ streams-per-year goal that Spotify has arbitrarily mandated, since it will earn me a very modest amount of money (mysteriously calculated and very small fractions of a cent per stream…) Let’s keep breath in and breathing out — with gratitude if possible — no matter what unfolds in our lives here on planet earth!
Totally with you, my friend!
A beautiful piece, and an interesting post Will. You do a great performance. (… and I can understand your words! :>)
Thank you, Dwight!
Never heard that first one — ‘You Took Advantage of Me’! Both sound great, so fresh!
Thank you for listening and reading!!!! I agree that Doug’s playing is very fresh and lively, bless him.
Will, I seem to hear thousands of musicians singing that song to Spotify now: ‘You Took Advantage of Me.’
Aha! I wonder if their mysterious algorithms have added it to their “listening profile” for you…
I did listen.
THANK YOU!!!! And all of the other people who have a version of “You Took Advantage Of Me” available on Spotify thank you, too!
A lovely version of the song Will. I enjoyed reading all these interesting facts, thank you for sharing them.
You are very welcome! I thank YOU for reading and listening and commenting!
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