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Ira Gershwin: Selected Lyrics (American Poets Project)

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Granted, I love music so these comments may be a mite biased . For me, the partnership of George and Ira Gershwin produced some of the best popular music we know or will ever know. Whether it was a song that touched your heart or a melody that made you want to get up and dance they were music masters. We cannot think of one Gershwin without the other.

However, since many of us are "hummers," tending to remember a tune rather than words perhaps not enough emphasis has been placed on the brilliant lyrics of Ira. Now, in this all too brief volume we are privileged to read and reread his words, perhaps realizing for the first time what a truly amazing lyricist he was.

The breadth of his writing astounds as he excelled in both comedic (Let's Call The Whole Thing Off) and dramatic (The Man That Got Away) veins. "Good lyrics," Ira once told one of George's biographers, "should be simple, colloquial, rhymed conversation." Ira's lyrics were that yet so much more, they often reflected the way we spoke during the years that he wrote. He had an ear for the man (and woman) on the street, penning lyrics that reflected their thoughts and aspirations.

Irving Berlin, after singing "A Foggy Day In London Town" over the telephone to a friend said, "Never forget how great Ira was." This collection of his song lyrics will help us remember.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

It is a joy to read the clever, imaginative, captivating lyrics which Ira Gershwin penned, but this collection is very limited and has minimal information beyond the lyrics--it doesn't even include the dates when they were written. (Well, an appendix does include this information, it is in micro-type and not very accessible--why not include this information alongside the lyrics?)

While most of the selections are familiar songs, some of the standards for which Ira was known are omitted--for example, there is only one number from "Porgy and Bess," "It Ain't Necessarily So." If the publisher insisted that there would be only a set number of pages for ths collection, it seems inexcusable to waste space for items like the complete verison of "The Man I Love" for male vocalists--"someday she'll come along, the girl I love..." (A footnote that simply noted that that version existed would have sufficed.)

I thoroughly enjoyed the lyrics which were included--they are certainly charnming and entertaining, and employ some ingenious rhymes. But I closed the volume hungry for more and was generally disappointed. Caveat emptor!

IRA GERSHWIN
Selected Lyrics
Edited by Robert Kimball
Goldberg McDuffie Communications
ISBN: 978-1-59853-052-0
$20.00 - Hardback
189 pages
Reviewer: Annie Slessman

"Dozens of girls would storm up; I had a lock on my door. Somehow I couldn't warm up to one before. What was it that controlled me? What kept my love life lean? My intuition told me you'd come on the scene. Lady, listen to the rhythm of my heartbeat, and you get just what I mean." That folks is the first verse of "EMBRACEABLE YOU," lyrics by Ira Gershwin. This and many more of the great lyrics written by Ira Gershwin are included in a book edited by Robert Kimball called Ira Gershwin Selected Lyrics. Long a fan of Gershwin music, I quickly took this book in hand and finally learned the lyrics to the songs I have hummed most of my life. I was always one of those people who could hum an entire song with a familiar lyric slipping out once in awhile. This book afforded me the opportunity to sing my heart out and actually sing the entire song.

Classics like, Someone to Watch Over Me, Nice Work If You Can Get It, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Oh, Lady Be Good, How Long Has This Been Going On, I Got Rhythm, and on and on...remain a part of the mind's repertoire of those who grew up with this music. When you hear someone say, "they just don't write lyrics like that today," they are right. They don't. Now, I am not putting down the music of today...much of it is beautifully written and performed. But a classic is a classic and the music of Ira Gershwin would certainly be classified among the classics.

If you grew up with this music, or, if you want to study the lyrics of a man who left an impression in the music industry...this is a great book to read and keep on your bookshelves.

Music has become the new poetry for many. "Ira Gershwin" is a collection of song lyrics from the celebrated individual, assembled by Robert Kimball for readers. Capturing the American spirit, Kimball presents a total nearing one hundred worth of song lyrics that Ira composed along with his brothers which have become classics of their genre. For anyone seeking a fine collection of music of a bygone era, "Ira Gershwin" is an entertaining and fine collection.