Welcome to another Wildcard Wednesday! In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m sharing an eclectic list of my favorite “love songs” (in quotes, because the act of defining a love song can be tricky) from scores and by composers that we’ve often covered here on Musical Theatre Mondays. These standards — and neglected gems — will help put you in a romantic mood!
01) “Here In My Arms” from Dearest Enemy (1925) [M: Richard Rodgers | L: Lorenz Hart]
See my post on Dearest Enemy here. Rendition below by Helen Ford and Douglas Danbury.
Favorite lyric: Next to my heart, it is ever so lonely…
02) “A Little Bungalow” from “The Cocoanuts” (1925) [M&L: Irving Berlin]
See my post on “The Cocoanuts” here. Rendition below by Howard McGillin and Stephanie J. Block.
Favorite lyric: There’ll be a room in blue, the one that you would occupy. It’s understood that I would occupy it too.
03) “An Armful Of You” written for Hit The Deck (1927) [M: Vincent Youmans | L: Clifford Grey; Leo Robin]
Stay tuned for my post on Hit The Deck! Rendition below by Robert White.
Favorite lyric: Beside the window I will look for you, when day is done…
04) “Night And Day” from Gay Divorce (1932) [M&L: Cole Porter]
Stay tuned for my post on Gay Divorce! Rendition below by Fred Astaire.
Favorite lyric: There’s an oh, such a hungry yearning burning inside of me…
05) “Isn’t It A Pity?” from Pardon My English (1933) [M: George Gershwin | L: Ira Gershwin]
See my post on Pardon My English here. Rendition below by Brent Barrett and Jeanne Lehman.
Favorite lyric: What joys untasted!
06) “That Moment Of Moments” from The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 [M: Vernon Duke | L: Ira Gershwin]
See my post on The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 here. Rendition below by Howard McGillin and Ruthie Henshall.
Favorite lyric: Two fond hearts in rhyme, here’s hoping that moment lives until the end of time…
07) “I’ve Gone Romantic On You” from Hooray For What! (1937) [M: Harold Arlen | L: E.Y. “Yip” Harburg]
See my post on Hooray For What! here. Rendition below by Adelaide Moffett and Jack Jenny’s Orchestra.
Favorite lyric: I want to buy moonbeams in the five and ten cent store…
08) “I See Your Face Before Me” from Between The Devil (1937) [M: Arthur Schwartz | L: Howard Dietz]
Stay tuned for my post on Between The Devil! Rendition below by Joan Crawford.
Favorite lyric: If you could share the magic, if you could love me too…
09) “It Never Was You” from Knickerbocker Holiday (1938) [M: Kurt Weill | L: Maxwell Anderson]
See my post on Knickerbocker Holiday here. Rendition below by David Brooks and Jean Darling.
Favorite lyric: I’ve been running through rains and the wind that follows after, for one certain face and an unforgotten laughter…
10) “All The Things You Are” from Very Warm For May (1939) [M: Jerome Kern | L: Oscar Hammerstein II]
See my post on Very Warm For May here. Rendition below by Jeanne Lehman, Cris Groenendaal, Rebecca Luker, George Dvorsky and ensemble.
Favorite lyric: You are the angel glow that lights a star, the dearest things I know are what you are…
Come back next Wednesday for another Wildcard post! And tune in tomorrow for more Xena!