3 Songs by George and Ira Gershwin

Introduction
- George Gershwin (1898-1937)

- Their works start being used in Broadway musical stage since 1924 (debut show:
Lady, be good!), George was 26 years old; Ira was 27

- Ira provided his brother George with lyrics over a period of thirteen years

- According to Deena Rodenberg, Ira ‘felt that George was the genius and that music,
especially his brother’s, was the higher art. His view, the predominant one before and
since, was fuelled by centuries of European grand opera, where the text, as important
as it was to the meaning of the piece, was overshadowed by the music. In fact, before
20th century American musical theatre, the composer set music to a pre-existent text
and there was no art of simultaneous or interactive lyric and music writing.’
- ‘Ira Gershwin: The Art of the Lyricist’: The first book focused on Ira’s talent was
published in 1996, which was 72 years after his Broadway debut!

- 70-30 split for the songs (Rimler)

- ‘It is true that the melody usually came before the lyric – although, as Ira pointed out,
there were times when words and music were written practically at the same time,
with both men working side by side in the same room and the song sprang into life
“sparked either by a possible title or a likely snatch of tune emerging line by line and
section by section.”… Ira’s song ideas, catchy titles, provocative colloquialisms and
catch phrases, ingenious verbal and rhythmic patterns, were sparks which set aflame
the combustible fuel of George’s musical imagination.’ (Ewen)

Conclusion
- They were both interested in ‘treating a thought, evolving an idea’
‘There is unquestionably such a thing as a Gershwin style’, but it is also true that the
adaptability of the brothers varied that style almost at will, superbly – from song to
song and from show to show’
(Oscar levant)

- ‘neither George nor Ira would have written what they wrote without the other. Both
the music and the words would have come out differently if not in relation to each
other; indeed, the music and the words came out the way they did because they
conditioned each other. Thus the dual artistry is part of the process.as well as the
product’ (Deena Rosenberg)

- ‘Ira’s dynamic and imaginative concept of what the musical comedy could be was a
vital force in opening for George new avenues in his musical writing for the theatre.’
1. The Man I Love, ‘Lady, be good’
1924, Broadway

- ‘Rarely have two collaborators worked together in such complete harmony as did
George and Ira Gershwin. Each knew the other’s psychological and emotional pattern
and was ready to conform it. Each had not only the sincerest and undivided love for
the other but also the highest regard for the other’s special talent. Beyond all this, Ira
is highly music conscious, even though he cannot read a note of music; and George
was equally word conscious. This sympathetic response to and understanding of each
other’s medium led to a perfect understanding. It was a marriage of true minds.’
(Ewen)
- According to Deena Rodenberg, ‘Rhapsody in blue was a crucial step, not only in the
composer’s development, but in George and Ira’s together. Once George had written
this consummate fusion of blue note-dominated melody lines, provocative and novel
harmonies, and varied syncopated rhythmic figures, Ira began to find the kind of
words that would bring George’s distinctive musical idiom to life on stage’
- Rhapsody in blue (1924) vs the man I love (Score, p.64 of Rosenberg)

- ‘Gershwin employed blue notes (generally, flatted third and seventh scale degrees,
and sometimes flatted fifth degree as well) in his melodies and harmony, and favoured
syncopated rhythms…’ (Larry Starr)

- Analysis, p.22-31 of Starr

Refrain – very Gershwin style, syncopated and repetitive motif, this motif dominates
the melodic and rhythmic character of the entire refrain, with blue harmonic colour
- ‘idiosyncratic musical characteristics’ (Geoffrey Block):
a predilection (preference/ bias) for repeated notes, along with the tendency to alter
the harmony on each repeated note, and more generally the use of harmony for
expressive textual purposes.

- Schenkerian Analysis (p.87-88, Gilbert) of the famous hit The man I love:
- a case can be made for either scale degree 3 of 5 as the primary melodic tone. The
ambiguity as to whether scale degree 5 or 3 is the primary melodic tone is not unique
to The Man I Love, and is also present in songs like Embraceable You and I Got
Rhythm.

- Form: conventional A-A-B-A form

- Verse – two-bar motif, fairy-tale themed lyrics; from verse to refrain = from a childish
dream world to reality.

- P.93, Ewen
6-note blues progression that reappeared throughout with accumulative effect,
 achieving poignancy through the contrapuntal background of a descending chromatic
scale.

- Drop from the show: p. 56-57 of Starr

doesn’t match the show’s tone, the man I love: intimate and yearning quality; lady be
good: upbeat and externalized
- P.93, Ewen
The ballad quality of this number seemed too slow for a musical filled with dancing
and rhythm -> Gershwin agreed to drop the show from the show
- After Lady, Be Good! and Tell Me More (1925), George thought it brought good luck
if a show’s title was kept to two words: Tip-Toes (1925), Oh, Kay! (1926), Funny
Face (1927), Treasure Girl (1928), and Girl Crazy (1930). All of these shows placed
a premium on songs of romantic euphoria and other upbeat sentiments that were the
perfect basis for Ira Gershwin’s linguistic playfulness. What was taboo in these
shows, however, were songs of romantic heartache or loss. Even when a ballad with
just a touch of wistfulness, such as “The Man I Love,” threatened to slow the frenetic
energy of the production, it was cut. (Philip Furia, 1996)

- John Ireland talking about The Man I love and Gershwin, ‘that, my boy, is a
masterpiece – a masterpiece, do you hear? This man Gershwin beats the lot of us

- Alec Wilder, p.130

‘…And so the man I love wound up as a pop song, and maybe one of the most
complex of that genre ever written up to that time. Ira Gershwin’s lyrics complement
his brother’s melody with great sympathy and adroitness. Their partnership, just then
getting into stride, was to prove remarkable.’

2. Let’s call the whole thing off, ‘shall we dance’

1934, Hollywood
- The core of Gershwin’s final period is represented by the two Fred Astaire films Shall
we dance and a damsel in distress.

- P.128, Rimler
‘Just before leaving Hollywood, he and Ira began working together for the first time
in a year. The song was Let’s call the whole thing off, whose lyrics… came from Ira
and Leonore’s different ways of pronouncing words.
- As Ira said in his 1959 book Lyrics on several occasions, ‘my wife still eyethers and
tomahtoes me, while I either and tomato her.’
- ‘the main melody showed that George really was out to write hits. But in the
introductory 18-bar verse he created a kind of colloquial recitative. The music flowed
in a conversational style but was harmonically ingenious, subtle, and affecting as his
work in Porgy and Bess.’

- p.339, Rosenberg
- Music contradicts the lyrics -> the couple are more compatible than they think!

- Gershwin believes in unity and harmony, people fall in love and coexist regardless of
their differences
- ‘I’d like to write… of the melting pot, of New York City itself, with its blend of
native and immigrant strains. This would allow for many kinds of music, black and
white, Eastern and Western, and would call for a style that should achieve out of this
diversity, an artistic unity… New York is a meeting-place, a rendezvous of the
nations, I’d like to catch the rhythm of these interfusing peoples, to show them
clashing and blending. I’d especially like to blend the humour of it with the tragedy of
it.’ (Gershwin, late 1920s)

- Shall we dance, p.154, Starr

‘rhythm’ songs; syncopation and harmonic restlessness
- P.151; the duet was a brilliant special number showcasing the actors’ (Astaire and
Rogers) singing and dancing ability -> video clip

- Their songs are like ‘spontaneous emotional expressions emanating from a single
source, with both words and music mutually dependent in achieving the desired
effect’ (Richard rodgers)

- Let’s call the whole thing off ‘is just a hook to hang fairly amusing lyric on’ and ‘its
popularity stemmed from Fred Astaire’s stylish performance’. (Wilder)

- ‘Ira, too, was at the height of his powers. Whenever George wrote a fine piece, Ira
matched it with a perfect, memorable lyrics. In… Let’s call the whole things off… he
caught the wit and feeling of the music… Their intimacy as collaborators, which
playwright Morrie Ryskind described as “telepathic”, was matched by their closeness
as brothers and friends. At one point, they were observed sitting at the piano, making
each other laugh so hard they ended up falling backward off the bench.
Their love for one another showed even in their arguments. When the Pulitzer Prize
was awarded in 1932 to Ira but not to George for Of thee I sing (there being no music
prize for music at the time), they got into a yelling match, with Ira insisting that he
would not accept the prize unless George got it too, while George demanded that Ira
accept it, no ifs, ands, or buts. In the end, Ira did take the award, but he hung it in his
bathroom, slightly askew.’

3. For You, for Me, for Evermore, ‘the shocking miss pilgrim’
1947
- Principal ballad of the show

- Background
When George died (at the age of 38 from a brain tumor), he left about 60 tunes to
which Ira had not set lyrics. With the help of kay swift (composer), Ira put George’s
unpublished melodies in the movie the shocking miss pilgrim in 1947.

- They ‘saw things through the same lens’ (Kay swift)

- Not only was Ira Gershwin the composer’s brother and closest
collaborator, but following the composer’s death he served as the spokesman for all
 matters Gershwin. (Wyatt & Johnson)

- P.198, Furia
In another stratum of the tunebooks, “Gershwin Melody No. 51,” Kay Swift struck
what she called a “goldmine,” and Ira faced what he termed the task of performing
“variation #4,708,903 1/2, Series E, on the Three- Little-Words theme.” As arduous
as that task had become he still came up with an artfully simple lyric, singable in its
long open and closed vowels, memorable in its subtle repetitions of rhyme, from the
opening title phrase,
- For you—
for me—
for evermore,
through the release,
we found, by finding each other,
the love we waited for,
to its final reprise:
what a lovely world this world will be
with a world of love in store
for you, for me, for evermore.
- The Shocking Miss Pilgrim earned what Ira dismissed as the usual studio acclaim—
“‘Best we ever had,’ ‘Out of this world,’ etc., etc.” In his own characteristically
understated terms, he gave it the highest praise possible: “I will say it's a very good
Gershwin score.”

- Ira: In person my brother was a good deal like his music: vibrant, dynamic and
honest, and, if I may, charming. He was full of life and lived a full day. (Wyatt &
Johnson)

- Gershwin has found definite laws of rhythm as mathematical and precise as any
science. He will show you beautifully intricate patterns on a graph paper that proves
swing music to be fundamental in the highest sense. (Isabel Jones)

About Ira’s style:

- P.165, Ewen
‘Possibly because he is so aware of the fact that a lyric is an art form that must serve
large masses (otherwise the song cannot be a hit), Ira Gershwin has come to the
conclusion that, unlike prose, an occasional interpolation of a “literary cliché is an
integral part of lyric writing.”’
- P.160
‘From the time he first began writing song lyrics, Ira explored every avenue that could
 further advance him along the road of technique and creativity. He studied all forms
and techniques of versification from anything and everything that was ever published
on the subject. ’
- P.163
‘His preference is always for simple lyrics that employ everyday speech,
colloquialisms, and familiar slogans. He much prefers a phrase like I’ve got a crush
on you or let’s call the whole thing off (which belongs to the everyday conversation
of the average man) to the gaudy and often formal verbiage found in operettas or
comic operas…’
- P.164
‘lyrics: natural, precise, economical, never distracting the attention of the listener
from the music…’

Audio/Video for the PowerPoint:

Rhapsody in blue (audio)

Let’s call the whole thing off (ice skating movie scene)

Music notation for the PowerPoint:

Gilbert, p.88, The man I love (mi/sol as primary melodic tone)

Rosenberg, p.64, Rhapsody in blue versus The man I love
 Bibliography

Ewen, D. (1956). Journey to greatness. New York: Holt.

I learnt about the collaboration of the brothers, and I know more about Ira’s writing
style and how it drastically affected the works of the genius Gershwin duo.

Furia, P. (1997). Ira Gershwin the art of the lyricist. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
This book gave us more details on Ira (the lyricist)’s side. His brother often outshines
Ira’s talent and there are not many references about Ira’s artistry alone. In this book, we have
more information about Ira’s creative journey, especially his incredible effort in continuing
his brother’s legacy after George’s death. The shocking miss pilgrim was a great success, and
we could see how ingenious Ira was in the song For you, for me, for evermore; however, he
also gave most credits to his brother and was very humble about his talent and success.

Gershwin, G. (2006). The Best of George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin. Place of publication
not identified: Faber/Chappell.
This is a song collection of Ira and George Gershwin with some brief introduction to
the brothers’ background, style and music. It was a great starting point to have a brief idea of
the history. Also, I flipped through all the songs to search for music and lyrics that really
speak to my heart; hence performing them in a recital context.

Gilbert, S. E. (1996). The music of Gershwin. New Haven: Yale University Press.

I learnt about one of the music features of George Gershwin, as illustrated with
Schenkerian Analysis of the famous hit The man I love: a case can be made for either scale
degree 3 of 5 as the primary melodic tone. The ambiguity as to whether scale degree 5 or 3 is
the primary melodic tone is not unique to The Man I Love, and is also present in songs like
Embraceable You and I Got Rhythm.

Rimler, W. (2015). George gershwin: an intimate portrait. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois

Press.
I learnt the story behind Let’s call the whole thing off, the mixed opinions of European
composers towards Gershwin’s music, and the brotherly bond that created all these amazing
songs.

Rosenberg, D. (1999). Fascinating rhythm: the collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin.

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
I learnt about how underrated Ira Gershwin was, and the importance of the
collaboration of the brothers – both the lyrics and music were equally crucial to the timeless
and universal success of the songs. Also, I found out interesting facts about the three songs I
chose for the lecture recital, for examples, The Man I Love was inspired by Gershwin’s most
famous Rhapsody in Blue; Let’s call the whole thing off tied into Gershwin’s belief of unity;
For You, for Me, for Evermore was published by Ira after George died.

Schwartz, C. (1979). Gershwin, his life and music. New York: Da Capo Press.
This book talks about how Gershwin’s personal life and music tied together. It was
really special because all the references and books I have read always talked about the
glorious and ingenious side of Gershwin; little did I know that he actually showed signs of
anxiety and depression. Although I could not use much quotes and materials from this book
in my presentation as it was more of a biography of George Gershwin, I was grateful to have
read it. I actually experienced depression last year and it attracted me to Gershwin’s cheerful
music and charming lyrics. It was wonderful how art connected people and healed people’s
depressed souls.

Starr, L. (2013). George gershwin. New Haven: Yale University Press.

I learnt more about George Gershwin’s ‘idiosyncratic musical characteristics’, the
reason behind the drop of The Man I Love from the show Lady, be good, and how different
Gershwin’s job had become from a Broadway to a Hollywood composer.

Varcoe, S. (2000). Sing English song: a practical approach to the language and the
repertoire. London: Thames Publishing.
This book served the purpose of a performance guidelines. As a second-language
English speaker, working out an ‘authentic’ accent to sing songs/ arias can be quite tricky
sometimes. I learnt about how to perform the songs in terms of accents, vowels, consonants
and phrasing. For accents, I should choose an accent the way the composer and lyricist spoke
it, and especially for the song Let’s call the whole thing off, the American and British accents
have to be so distinctive, otherwise the joke will not work! Next, singers often forgot to sing
through the vowels when they’re singing in English, hence disrupting the legato line of
phrases. This book gave me a good exercise to practise the 11 English pure vowels, which is
‘Do put Paul’s pot plants under pat’s best fig tree’. And finally, consonants always get in the
way by creating tension. The book has tips of singing every single consonant. It also reminds
me do a glottal stop in For you, for me, ‘for evermore’ for clarity of meaning.

Wilder, A. (1972). American popular song. New York: Oxford University Press.

This book talks about the style of several American song composers such as Irving
Berlin, Cole Porter and Gershwin. And in the Gershwin section, I learnt about the
conventional A-A-B-A form he used in most of his songs. I also learnt more history behind
The Man I Love, and the author’s opinions on two of my songs in the lecture recital: he
thought The man I love is complex and remarkable, and Let’s call the whole thing off ‘is just
a hook to hang fairly amusing lyric on’ and ‘its popularity stemmed from Fred Astaire’s
stylish performance’.

Wyatt, R., & Johnson, J. A. (2010). The George Gershwin reader. Oxford: Oxford Univ.
Press.
I had access to letters/ notes that George and Ira wrote to each other, for examples,
George Gershwin: Letter to Ira Gershwin (February 18, 1923; 1937); George writing about
himself as a music maker (1930); Ira writing about George as a good person and artist in
1961 after George passed away. Furthermore, Wyatt and Johnson have a chapter called
“Gershwin Bros” written in 1925, discussing the success of the brothers. Precious note on
Gershwin’s shows and songs by Philip Furia (on Lady be good, 1996); Frederick Jacobi (The
future of Gershwin, 1937); and Isabel Morse Jones (Gershwin analyses science of rhythm,
1937).