I Like to Recognize the Tune

"I Like to Recognize the Tune"
Song
Published	1939
Songwriter(s)	Lorenz Hart
Composer(s)	Richard Rodgers

"I Like to Recognize the Tune" is an American popular song written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The song was introduced by Eddie Bracken, Marcy Wescott, Mary Jane Walsh, Richard Kollmar and Hal Le Roy in the 1939 Broadway musical Too Many Girls.^[1]

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Background

The lyrics lament the distortions of melody inherent in Jazz and Swing, and popular interpretations of music in general: "I like to recognize the tune / I want to savvy what the band is playing / I keep saying, "Must you bury the tune?"^[2] In his autobiography, Musical Stages, Richard Rodgers described the motivations that inspired the song: "we voiced objection to the musical distortions, then so much a part of pop music because of the swing-band influence."^[3]

The 1940 film version of Too Many Girls, which starred RKO contract star Lucille Ball and the Broadway hit's cast member Desi Arnaz (who met and fell in love on the set, and married soon afterwards), did not feature the song. The song would appear in a later musical revue turned into a Lucille Ball film, Meet The People (MGM, 1944), and was sung by the film's supporting player, June Allyson, who met her own future husband in that film's co-star, Dick Powell.

Recordings

"I Like to Recognize the Tune" has been recorded by many jazz and popular artists over the years, including Mel Tormé, George Shearing, Dinah Shore, Gene Krupa, Tal Farlow, Bobby Short, Carol Kidd, Stan Getz, and Johnny Desmond.^[4]

Notes

^ Shapiro, Nat. Popular Music: An Annotated Index of American Popular Songs. Page 277. Adrian Press, 1973.
^ Shapiro, Nat. An Encyclopedia of Quotations About Music. Page 34. Da Capo Press, 1981.
^ Rodgers, Richard. Musical Stages: an Autobiography. Page 193. Da Capo Press, 2002.
^ Allmusic: Song Entry^{[dead link]}

v t e Rodgers and Hart
Richard Rodgers Lorenz Hart
Musicals	Fly with Me Poor Little Ritz Girl The Garrick Gaieties Dearest Enemy The Girl Friend Peggy-Ann A Connecticut Yankee Present Arms Chee-Chee Ever Green Simple Simon America's Sweetheart Jumbo On Your Toes Babes in Arms I'd Rather Be Right The Boys from Syracuse I Married an Angel Too Many Girls Higher and Higher Pal Joey By Jupiter
Songs	"Manhattan" "Mountain Greenery" "Here in My Arms" "Blue Room" "My Heart Stood Still" "Thou Swell" "To Keep My Love Alive" "You Took Advantage of Me" "With a Song in My Heart" "A Ship Without a Sail" "Dancing on the Ceiling" "Ten Cents a Dance" "He Was Too Good to Me" "I've Got Five Dollars" "Isn't It Romantic?" "Lover" "Mimi" "You Are Too Beautiful" "Blue Moon" "It's Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)" "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" "My Romance" "Little Girl Blue" "There's a Small Hotel" "Glad to Be Unhappy" "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" "Where or When" "I Wish I Were in Love Again" "My Funny Valentine" "Johnny One Note" "The Lady Is a Tramp" "Have You Met Miss Jones?" "I'll Tell the Man in the Street" "Spring Is Here" "Falling in Love with Love" "This Can't Be Love" "Sing for Your Supper" "I Like to Recognize the Tune" "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" "Give It Back to the Indians" "You're Nearer" "It Never Entered My Mind" "I Could Write a Book" "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" "Ev'rything I've Got" "Wait till You See Her"

This page was last edited on 24 March 2024, at 14:39

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Transcription

Background

Recordings

Notes