Yankee Doodle Dandy–Part Three

We are going to start this post with a selection that was not included in the movie. In fact, it is quite un-Cohan in its style and substance. Yet, it is from the same show that gave us “The Yankee Doodle Boy” and “Give My Regards to Broadway.” Let’s look at the words of the lyric and listen to George M. Cohan sing the tune in a 1911 recording. You will see the lyric repeated in the song, but we think it is important enough to be included in the body of the text.

Did you ever sit and ponder; sit and wonder, sit and think
why we’re here and what this life is all about?

It’s a problem that has driven many brainy men to drink.
It’s the weirdest thing they’ve tried to figure out.

About a thousand different theories the scientists can show,
but never yet a proof or reason why

with all we’ve thought, and all we’re taught, why all we seem to know
is we’re born, live a while, then we die.

Life’s a very funny proposition after all:
imagination, jealousy, hypocrisy and all.

Three meals a day, a whole lot to say.
When you haven’t got the coin you’re always in the way.

Everybody’s fighting as we wend our way along.
Every fellow claims the other fellow’s in the wrong.

Hurried and worried until we’re buried; there’s no curtain call.

Life’s a very funny proposition after all.

When things are coming easy, and when luck is with a man,
then life to him is sunshine everywhere.

Then, the fates blow rather breezy; they quite upset a plan
and he’ll cry ‘this life’s a burden, hard to bear.’

Though today may be a day of smiles, tomorrow’s still in doubt.
What brings me joy may bring you care and woe.

We’re born to die, but don’t know why or what it’s all about.
The more we try to learn, the less we know.

Life’s a very funny proposition, you can bet.
And no one’s ever solved the problem properly as yet.

Young for a day, then and grey
like a rose that buds and blooms and fades,and falls away.

Losing health in search of wealth as through this dream we tour.
Everything’s a guess and nothing’s absolutely sure.

Battles exciting, fates we’re fighting until the curtains fall.
Life’s a very funny proposition after all.

That is pretty strong philosophy, proving that Cohan was more substantial than most people gave him credit for.

That said, it is time for us to move onto the next hit show, Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway. The first song from that show is “Mary’s a Grand Old Name.” In the movie, the song is first promised to Cohan’s wife, played by Joan Leslie. The first clip from the movie shows Leslie learning the song from Cagney (again Joan’s voice was dubbed by Sally Sweetland).

However, the demands of the show requires the song to be reassigned to the show’s star, Faye Templeton, played in the movie by Irene Manning. Faye Templeton was an actual star on Broadway whose last appearance was in the Jerome Kern hit, Roberta in 1933.

The last clip from this show was a production number, sung by Irene Manning and the chorus, that included both “Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway” and “So Long, Mary.”

Our next post will feature the music from George Washington, Jr.