Don’t Monkey with B’way-B’way Mel 1940 by Murphy, Astaire, Newman

The joy of listening to music from a great composer is the fact that the music can vary markedly from one song to another. Take Cole Porter, for example. His greatest musical on Broadway was Kiss Me, Kate, and the Broadway hit was later adapted for the movies. Go to Youtube, and you can listen to Alfred Drake sing “So In Love” from the 1948 original cast recording, Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson sing it in the 1953 movie or listen to Thomas Hampson sing it in the 1990 EMI restoration recording. The song is part Broadway, part opera; all Porter.

However, Cole was just as adept when it came to a jazzy tune for the movies. In Broadway Melody of 1940, he wrote just such a tune for George Murphy and Fred Astaire. When we listen to the witty lyrics, we hear Cole Porter take aim at some of New York City’s landmarks as he suggests that they can be removed–all but Broadway. “Don’t Monkey with Broadway” was arranged and orchestrated by a talented Broadway veteran named Alfred Newman, who had migrated to Hollywood in 1930. During his career in Hollywood, he amassed 341 Hollywood credits, including forty-four Academy Award nominations and nine Oscars.