A list song, also called a laundry list song or a catalog song, is a song based wholly or in part on a list. Unlike topical songs with a narrative and a cast of characters, list songs typically develop by working through a series of information, often comically, articulating their images additively, and sometimes use items of escalating absurdity. The form as a defining feature of an oral tradition dates back to early

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

, where it played an important part of early

hexameter poetry Dactylic hexameter is a form of meter used in Ancient Greek epic and didactic poetry as well as in epic, didactic, satirical, and pastoral Latin poetry. Its name is derived from Greek (, "finger") and (, "six"). Dactylic hexameter consists o ...

for oral bards like

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

and

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

. In classical

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

, the list song has its own genre, the

catalogue aria A catalogue aria is a genre of opera aria in which the singer recounts a list of information (people, places, food, dance steps, etc.) that was popular in Italian comic opera in the latter half of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The ...

, that was especially popular in Italian ''

opera buffa Opera buffa (, "comic opera"; : ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramma bernesc ...

'' and

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

in the latter half of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Leporello's aria (), also nicknamed The Catalogue Aria, is a prominent example, and often mentioned as a direct antecedent to the 20th-century musical's list song. The list song is a frequent element of 20th-century popular music and became a Broadway staple.

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

, and

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received Lis ...

are composers and lyricists who have used the form. The very first commercial recording of a Cole Porter tune was his list song "I've a Shooting Box in Scotland" originally from '' See America First'' (1913). Berlin followed soon after with the list song "When I Discovered You" from his first complete Broadway score, '' Watch Your Step'' (1914). Porter would frequently return to the list song form. Notable examples include " You're the Top" from the 1934 musical '' Anything Goes'', "Friendship", one of Porter's wittiest list songs, from '' DuBarry Was a Lady'', and "Farming" and "Let's Not Talk About Love", both from ''

Let's Face It! ''Let's Face It!'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book by Herbert Fields, Herbert and Dorothy Fields is based on the 1925 play ''The Cradle Snatchers'' by Russell Medcraft and Norma Mitchell. The 1941 Br ...

'' (1942), and both written for

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; ; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire novelty songs. Kaye starred ...

to showcase his ability with tongue-twisting lyrics. In "You're the Top", Porter pays tribute to his colleague Irving Berlin by including the item "You're the top! You're a Berlin ballad." Irving Berlin would likewise often write songs in the genre; notable examples include "My Beautiful Rhinestone Girl" from '' Face the Music'' (1932), a list song that starts off with a sequence of similes, "Outside of That I Love You" from ''

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

'', and " Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)" a challenge-duet, and Berlin's starkest antithesis-driven list song, " You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", and " Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", all three from the 1946

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

'' Annie Get Your Gun''.

List of list songs

Examples of list songs, and their composers/performers, include the following.

Patter songs

Many

patter song The patter song is characterised by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note. It is a staple of comic opera, especially Gilbert and Sullivan, but it h ...

s fall into this genre such as: * KoKo's ''Little list song'' from ''

The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...

'' (see "As Some Day It May Happen" above) * " Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)" (

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

and

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the ...

) (see "Tschaikowsky" above) * "The Major-General's Song" (

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

) * "If You Want a Receipt" from ''

Patience or forbearance, is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances. Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect ...

'' (Gilbert and Sullivan)

References

{{Singing Lists of songs about a topic Song forms