Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

You're the Top

 
Wikipedia: You're the Top

"You're The Top" is a Cole Porter song from the 1934 musical Anything Goes. It is about a man and a woman who take turns complimenting each other. The best selling version was Paul Whiteman's Victor single, which made the top five.

It was the most popular song from Anything Goes at the start with hundreds of parodies.[1]

The lyrics are particularly significant because they offer a snapshot as to what was highly prized in the mid-1930s, and demonstrate Porter's rhyming ability.

Some of the lyrics were re-written by P.G. Wodehouse for the British version of Anything Goes.

Contents

People and items referenced in the song

The following is a list of many of the references made in the song:

P. G. Wodehouse anglicised it for the British version of Anything Goes. Amongst other changes, he altered two lines from "You’re an O’Neill drama / You’re Whistler’s mama!" to "You’re Mussolini / You’re Mrs Sweeny")[2][3]

[1] This is a facetious witticism.[citation needed] Strauss was noted for his waltzes.

Versions of the song

An episode[which?] of The Dick Van Dyke Show features a version of the song performed for Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore) by her very young son Ritchie. In that version, Ritchie mistakenly alters the lyrics from "You're the Mona Lisa" to "You're the Mommy Lisa".

The song played a major role in the M*A*S*H episode "The Joker Is Wild" whereupon the loser of a "jokeoff" in the 4077th had to sing the song without his bottoms (pants) in the mess hall. Alan Alda's character Hawkeye ultimately had to make good on said promise.

Also sung as the introduction by Paul Jones and arranged by Richard Rodney Bennett for the ITV series The Charmer starring Nigel Havers

References

  1. ^ James Redmond (editor) Drama, Dance and Music Cambridge University Press 1981 page 60
  2. ^ Mayfair, the Duchess of Argyll and the Headless Man polaroids
  3. ^ WARREN HOGE London Journal; A Sex Scandal of the 60's, Doubly Scandalous Now New York Times 16 August 2000

External links


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
 
 

 

Copyrights:

Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "You're the Top" Read more