"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.'
The song was covered by Barbra Streisand for the 1972 film What's Up, Doc?, a film that features several Porter compositions in the form of elevator music
A version sung by Cole Porter was featured on the soundtrack to the 2007 video game BioShock. A different version, also sung by Porter, was featured in the end titles of the 2004 movie De-Lovely.
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 "You're the Top" without their bottoms (pants) in the mess hall. Alan Alda's character Hawkeye ultimately had to make good on said promise.
The song was sung by Diana Rigg in the 1982 Agatha Christie Poirot film, Evil Under the Sun.
Referenced
The following is a list of many of the references made in the song:
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References
- ^ James Redmond (editor) Drama, Dance and Music Cambridge University Press 1981 page 60
External links
- Explication of lyrics by Slate.com
- Additional Explanation of lyrics by Slate.com
- Explication of lyrics by Playbill
- Additional risqué lyrics at Slate.com of disputed provenance, possibly by Irving Berlin or Porter himself
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