"The Man I Love" is a
popular standard in
AABA form
The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century.
A ...
with music by
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
and lyrics by his brother
Ira. Part of the 1924 score for the Gershwin musical comedy ''
Lady, Be Good
''Linda, Be Good'' is a 1947 American comedy film directed by Frank McDonald and starring Elyse Knox, John Hubbard and Marie Wilson. The film's sets were designed by the art director Lewis H. Creber.Stephens p.65
Sidney W. Pink took the fi ...
'', the song was deleted from that show and put into the Gershwins' 1927 government satire ''
Strike Up the Band'' (where it appears as "The Man I Love" and "The Girl I Love"), which closed out-of-town. It was considered for, then rejected from, the 1928 Ziegfeld hit ''
Rosalie''.
Covers
Like many songs from George and Ira Gershwin, "The Man I Love" is considered part of the
Great American Songbook
The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes.
Definition
According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" i ...
and was covered on stage and on record by many artists. It was recorded by
Kate Bush
Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single " Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female ...
in 1994 for
Larry Adler's ''
The Glory of Gershwin
''The Glory of Gershwin'' is a 1994 tribute album by various singers and performers in celebration of American musician Larry Adler's 80th birthday. Adler himself plays the harmonica on each of the songs, all of which are written by Adler's lif ...
'' tribute album and released as a single, which reached number 27 on the
British charts.
In 2004, the Brazilian singer-songwriter
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encomp ...
who identifies himself as bisexual recorded a gay version of the song for his English-language album ''A Foreign Sound''.
Further reading
* Philip Furia, ''Ira Gershwin: The Art of the Lyricist'' Oxford University Press: Oxford 1996,
* Ira Gershwin, ''Lyrics on Several Occasions'' Limelight Editions: New York City 1973.
*
Ted Gioia, ''The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire'' Oxford University Press: Oxford 2012,
*
Alec Wilder
Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder (February 16, 1907 – December 24, 1980) was an American composer.
Biography
Wilder was born in Rochester, New York, United States, to a prominent family; the Wilder Building downtown (at the "Four Corners") ...
, ''American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950'' Oxford University Press: Oxford 1972,
See also
*
List of 1920s jazz standards
References
External links
At Jazz Standards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Man I Love, The
1920s jazz standards
1924 songs
1928 singles
1994 singles
Bluebird Records singles
Kate Bush songs
Songs with lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Songs with music by George Gershwin