Noel Coward: The Complete Illustrated Lyrics [Hardcover]

Noel Coward (Author), Barry Day (Editor, Contributor)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In America, Noel Coward's reputation rests on Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, and Blithe Spirithilarious, brittle comedies that both undercut and endorse romance. In his native Britain, however, he is so highly regarded as a songwriter that Day, annotator-compiler of this splendidly mounted collection, declares him one of the five "great popular lyricists of the twentieth century," the others being Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Oscar Hammerstein (so much for Irving Berlin!). Coward's musical plays Bitter Sweet, Cavalcade, and Conversation Piece are still staged in Britain, and many of his songs remain current. There is no denying Coward's wit; his lyrics reliably evoke smiles. But most Americans couldn't hum a Coward melody, which makes this book more of a general library specialty than collections of Hart's, Gershwin's, and other Americans' lyrics would be. Nevertheless, decked out with wonderful photos and artwork from Coward's many shows and threaded together by Day's amusing commentary, this big, handsome book would adorn any theater collection--and 1999 is the Coward centennial. Ray Olson

Product Details

• Hardcover: 367 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; 1st edition (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879518960
• ISBN-13: 978-0879518967
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 11 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A meticulously-researched compilation of The Master's Voice., May 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Noel Coward: The Complete Illustrated Lyrics (Hardcover)

BEVIS HILLIER - The Spectator: "In the LYRICS something close to genius flares out;it is his songs that make Coward immortal...This collection is illustrated with a pleasing choice of photographs of Coward and his friends,song-sheet covers and programmes. The effect is of a personal scrapbook...The second merit is the formidably good editing by BARRY DAY. His notes to often rather-light songs are so learned...it is useful to get sorted out,once and for all,the extent of Coward's collaboration with Kern and to hear from different artists about auditioning for Coward or the premieres of his songs."

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, January 11, 2012

By 

Joe Hart - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Noel Coward: The Complete Illustrated Lyrics (Hardcover)

A beautiful book at a great reduction in price. Fascinating anecdotes accompany the songs. (Ira Gershwin - who was he? - was actually asked to write an American chorus to "Don't Let's Be Beastly To The Germans" - which of course in his ludicrous egomania he did - it is embarrassingly bad as can be imagined and to add to the fun, he did it without having heard the tune which he said he knew he could do because he knew Coward wrote everything in 6/8.) On Bagley's Coward album (my comments on which are now raking in the "unhelpfuls" which these remarks will also do, if anyone responds at all), the 2nd 2 choruses of "Chase Me, Charlie" have completely different words from those given in this book. Did Barry Day (Coward's executor and biographer and thank god for him!) neglect to give alternate versions written by Coward (the ones in this book are wildly vulgar and profane - the song is about a lady cat summoning her hoped for paramour), or did Bagley just write his own (as he did on some songs on at least his Porter album)?

Also Coward was an accomplished painter, though the reproductions are in black and white.

Born in 1899, Coward was a miracle of the 20th Century.