Sometimes those lyricists who penned the words to many of the GASbook classics had a strange way of paying a compliment. Larry Hart's My Funny Valentine being a prime example with, among other less than flattering observations, 'Your looks are laughable, unphotographical' stands out. In real life that would be 'hello, goodbye' before he/she had time to soften the insult with 'yet you're my favourite work of art'!
Ira Gershwin was another whose compliments were of the backhanded variety. In They Can't Take That Away From me he came up with; 'The way you sing off key' which would surely have resulted in him/her most certainly having 'that' taken away from them. Likewise on I've Got a Crush on You, the line: 'It's not that you're attractive...' would surely have resulted in him/her taking an early bath - alone!
Dorothy Fields, in A Fine Romance, came up with: 'We should be like a couple of hot tomatoes, but you're as cold as yesterday's mashed potatoes'.
Cole Porter's You're the Top is a classic but to tell a girl that she's: 'The nose on the great Durante' would be likely to put your own nose in that category via a sharp right hook. Nor would Cole be doing himself any favours when, the morning after, he told him/her that it was 'Just One of Those Things'!
Ralph Freed wrote the lyrics to Burton Lane's How About You? In the movie, Babes on Broadway, Mickey Rooney 'pitches the woo' to Judy Garland with the classic line: '...and James Durante's looks give me a thrill'. Garland must have wondered about Mickey...
Johnny Burke wrote the lyric to Jimmy Van Heusen's Polka Dots and Moonbeams. It's an excellent tune and was Sinatra's first big hit with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He describes the object of his affection as 'a pug-nosed dream'. He goes on to sing that, 'there were questions in the eyes of other dancers as we floated around the floor'. I bet there were! Lance
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