Richard Rodgers I Wish I Were in Love Again

I Wish I Were In Beloved Again
Written: 1937	Music by: Richard Rodgers	Words by: Lorenz Hart	Written for: Babes in Arms (Broadway Show (1937)
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Two Xx-first Century Performances of "I Wish I Were in Love Again"
Amanda McBroom	Audra McDonald
(Delight complete or interruption one video before starting some other.)
Amanda McBroom (left, higher up) at the John Anson Ford Theatre, Los Angeles Baronial, 2002 Note: Neither Ms. McBroom nor Ms. McDonald include the verse .	Audra McDonald With Keith Lockhart and David Krane on piano (The second of a two-part tribute to composer Richard Rodgers circulate on WNET/Thirteen, New York, c. Aug. 1, 2002.) Ms. McDonald has recorded "I Wish I Were in Love Again" on her 2002 album Happy Songs.
For More than Performances of "I Wish I Were in Love Again," see the Cafe SongbookRecord/Video Cabinet (Video credits )

Cafe Songbook Reading Room "I Wish I Were in Love Over again" Critics Corner || Lyrics Lounge
Nearly the Prove and Film Babes in Arms
Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages: An Autobiography, New York: Random Business firm, 1975 (Da Capo paper bound ed., 2002, pictured above. Babes in Arms studio cast album 1951 Babes in Arms studio bandage anthology 1989 Babes in Arms bandage anthology from the 1999 New York City Center Encores! production Frederick Nolan, Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway, New York, Oxford Academy Press, 1994. The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection (Babes in Artillery / Babes on Broadway / Daughter Crazy / Strike Upward the Ring) DVD box set Words and Music--DVD	Near the Show Babes in Arms Babes in Artillery was not only a typical "Come on kids, let's put on a prove" musical, merely peradventure the first of its kind. The thought for it emerged while Rodgers and Hart were walking in Primal Park and noticed some creative children making up their own games. It's plot was slight and far fetched but the Rodgers and Hart score produced more than American standard songs than whatsoever other evidence past the songwriting team. The story begins when a troupe of Depression era vaudevillians are unable to become piece of work and and so decide to low-cal out for the territories in an endeavor to brand some kind of living-- leaving behind their kids to fend for themselves. The youngsters resist beingness sent to a piece of work farm by putting on a evidence of their own to raise coin for a local youth centre. Zilch much comes of it until a deus ex machina in the form of a French transatlantic aviator crash-landing his airplane in their midst generates enough publicity to make the kids' show a striking. Babes in Arms tried out in Boston and and so opened in New York at the Shubert Theater April 14, 1937. Despite its lack of the de rigueur line of semi-nude show girls to stir up ticket sales, it ran for the better part of a yr (289 performances), closing December eighteen, 1937. Rodgers and Hart had decided they wanted this show to be all their own so they wrote the book besides as the words and music; and they brought in George Balanchine for the choreography. The bandage was restricted to youngsters, many of whom somewhen became stars, including Mitzi Green, Alex Courtney, Alfred Drake, Ray Heatherton, The Nicholas Brothers, Dan Dailey, Robert Rounseville, Grace MacDonald, and Wynn Murray. The show within the testify that the kids put on is a revue, and all merely one of the Rodgers and Hart songs are the focal points for its skits. The merely exception is "My Funny Valentine." It is integrated into the principal story, Billie, played by Mitzi Green, singing information technology nearly her new beloved "Val," short for "Valentine," played by Ray Heatherton. Richard Rodgers has noted that because he and Hart were so interested in writing songs that helped to develop the story, they went and so far as to change the name of one of their characters to Valentine to make the song fit the story. (Musical Stages, p, 181, difficult-bound Ed.). "I Wish I Were in Dearest Again" is introduced in the show past Grace McDonald (Dolores) and Rolly Pickert (Gus) singing a comic duet (Human action 1, Scene 3) about a couple who has broken up; and although they love having ridded themselves of the trials and tribulations of their relationship notice themselves bored without them. Revivals: There take been no Broadway revivals of Babes in Arms perhaps because despite the spectacular score, the book is just too slight and too dated; all the same, there accept been two studio albums: one with Mary Martin on Columbia Records, from 1951; and one with Judy Blazer and Judy Kaye from 1989. This production uses the original 1937 orchestrations and therefore provides a rare opportunity to hear the musical portions of the show more or less as originally performed, before and so many of the songs emerged equally standards creating their own indelible impressions. In that location was also one New York concert revival by City Center Encores! in Feb. 1999, for which there is a cast album. Despite the lack of a Broadway revival, Babes in Artillery has been mounted countless times in high schoolhouse and stock productions using a revised book with a summer theater as the setting and in which the interns put on the show within the show. The Lorenz Hart Website in its discussion of the revivals of Babes in Arms offers a refutation of the notion that Babes in Arms has never been recreated in its original form because the volume is "too slight and too dated." Come across IBDB.org entry for complete show product dates, complete cast, other credits, songs/sung by, Broadway revivals, etc. "I Wish I Were in Honey Once more" in the Movie Babes in Artillery "I Wish I Were in Love Over again" was dropped from the film Babes in Arms. The Hollywood forces that created the movie version (in 1939, starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney) inexplicably got rid of about of the peachy Rodgers and Hart songs from the prove leaving only "Where or When" and the championship song. Hollywood, possibly recognizing its mistake did manage to use some of them later in the biopic Words and Music (1948). Come across IMDB.com entry for Babes in Arms, the movie, (plot summary, bandage, production credits, soundtrack info., etc.) "I Wish I Were in Love Once again" in the Movie Words and Music Words and Music, (1948), the very much less than accurate biopic of Rodgers and Hart, is withal valuable for the performances of their songs. "I Wish I Were in Love Again" is sung by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney (playing Hart). Hart, expressionless past the time the movie was made, would have enjoyed the irony of Hollywood cut the song from the movie version of the show he wrote it for but having the stars of that movie come back and sing it in this wildly inaccurate story of his life. Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney sing "I Wish I Were in Love Over again" in Words and Music, 1948.
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Critics Corner
from Alec Wilder, American Pop Vocal The Great Innovators, 1900-1950, New York: Oxford University Printing, 1972.	Alec Wilder is addicted of both the words and the music of "I Wish I Were in Beloved Again" simply finally gives the nod to the lyric as being the more powerful element in the vocal: Let me say that the tune, from the poesy through to the stop, is a perfect gear up of notes for the lyric. Information technology is even stiff enough to sustain itself as an instrumental piece. But one time you've heard the lyric, your attending must be drawn toward the words. (American Popular Vocal, p. 204, hard-bound edition)
Philip Furia and Michael Lasser, America'south Songs, New York: Routledge, 2006.	Philip Furia and Michael Lasser smooth a calorie-free on the nighttime, masochistic graphic symbol of " I Wish I Were in Love Over again": For Furia and Lasser the bottom line of the song is the pushing of romance "to a masochistic extreme." Humans wish to be in love even when they know "how bad it feels, looks and even smells." They indicate out how Hart ironically enumerates love'south charms: "the blackened middle"; the "conversation with the flying plates"; and "the self-deception that believes the lie"of statements like "'I'll love you til the day I die'." They conclude the song is Lorenz Hart's "backhanded tribute to [love's] power" (America's Songs, p. 139, difficult-leap Ed.).
David Lehman. A Fine Romance Jewish Songwriters, American Songs. New York: Next Book/Schocken, 2009.	David Lehman concurs with Furia and Lasser" on the masochistic nature of Hart's lyric: Hart is peerless at the melancholy of sexual attraction, the masochism of the smitten lover. Given the choice betwixt a quiet healthy life and the classic quarrel of a man and married woman, Hart's lover knows exactly which to prefer. From "I Wish I Were in Dearest Again," this couplet sums up the whole logic of romance in a noir fashion: The words "I'll love you till the day I die," The cocky-deception that believes the lie-- (A Fine Romance, p. 19)
Philip Furia, The Poets of Tin can Pan Alley: A History of America'southward Swell Lyricists, New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.	Philip Furia uses the words of "I Wish I Were in Love Once more" to illustrate characteristic elements of "Gild Verse," a type of light poetry that most defines the nature of so many Songbook lyrics, lyrics with a sophisticated subject affair expressed in everyday, unsentimental language, language that "is never formal and elevated but 'terse and idiomatic and rather in the conversational key'. When love congeals, it soon reveals The faint aroma of performing seals, The double-crossing of a pair of heels, I wish I were in dear over again." (The Poets of Can Pan Alley, p. 7)
Gerald Mast. Can't Help Singin' The American Musical on Phase and Screen . Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1987.	Gerald Mast gives Hart's love lyrics an oxymoronic and paradoxical spin: If dearest for Hart can be a joyous desperation, information technology can also exist a hurting in the neck. In "I Wish I Were in Beloved Again," the singers are caught between the hurting of being in love and the pain of not being in love. In beloved in that location are sleepless nights and daily fights. Out of love you miss the kisses and yous miss the bites. You're sane, but you'd rather be gaga or punch drunkard. . . . Merely i thing is certain with a Hart honey lyric: you can't win one mode or the other. (Tin't Assistance Singin', p. 169, difficult-spring Ed.)
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Lyrics Lounge
Click here to read the lyrics for "I Wish I Were in Love Again" as sung by Ella Fitzgerald on the album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook . Ella's version corresponds to the original, consisting of the verse followed by two refrain s. Watch the video below to hear Sinatra sing "I Wish I Were in Beloved Again" accompanied by the streaming lyrics. This version is from his 1956 recording on Capitol, A Swingin' Affair . Ed.'s note: Sinatra omits the verse and proceeds to sing the two refrains much as Hart wrote them with only i interesting change. For the first refrain, Hart's line reads, "But / I would rather be gaga." For the second refrain Hart changes the line upwardly just a bit having it read, "But I'd rather be punch-drunk." Sinatra sings the second version, the i with "punch-drunkard" instead of "gaga, "for both refrains. No dubiety Hart used them every bit being more than or less synonymous terms, having the singer mean he/she would rather be partly out of his mind than sane, not "all there" as he puts it, considering you accept to be "gaga" and/or "punch-drunk" in club to exist in love. Why Sinatra excised "gaga," we don't know. One can only wonder if he had known of his latter twenty-four hours colleague, Lady Gaga, would he take understood the word amend and sung the get-go refrain as Hart wrote it. Had he, he would take been swimming against the tide of this fourth dimension. It has been suggested that "gaga" is (or was c. 1956) a figure of voice communication more typically applicative to an off-kilter woman and "punch-drunk" to a human in a similar state, hence Sinatra'south selection. This notion is supported by the Garland/Rooney duet from 1948 (See above.) in which she sings, and acts out, the "gaga" line; whereas, he does the same for "punch-drunk." It is likely that Grace McDonald and Rolly Pickert divided the lines this way in the original Broadway product of Babes in Arms in 1937. Stacey Kent's rendition confirms the idea that the outcome is a period sensitive one. In her 2001 recording, she enunciates "dial-drunk" twice, singing both refrains as Hart wrote them and and so repeating the second refrain. Apparently she is across whatever femine aversion to such language. 2012 should farther bear out this change with a vengence when women'south boxing becomes an Olympic event for the first fourth dimension, so that women can experience being punch-drunk literally instead of but as a outcome of dear. This makes Ms. Kent'due south version an ironic foreshadow in song of what is at present happening in the ring. This commentator prefers Hart's metaphorical "punch-drunkeness" for both sexes. The complete, authoritative lyrics for "I Wish I Were in Love Again'" can exist found in: Click here to read Cafe Songbook lyrics policy.
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Credits (this page)

Credits for Videomakers of videos used on this page: Amanda McBroom: amandamcbroom Audra McDonald: varadero1839 Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney: storyjan Carmen McRae: Cheeseford Stacey Kent: giordy2089 Borrowed textile (text): The sources of all quoted and paraphrased text are cited. Such content is used under the rules of fair use to further the educational objectives of CafeSongbook.com. CafeSongbook.com makes no claims to rights of whatever kind in this content or the sources from which information technology comes. Borrowed material (images): Images of CD, DVD, volume and similar product covers are used courtesy of either Amazon.com or iTunes/LinkShare with which CafeSongbook.com maintains an affiliate status. All such images are linked to the source from which they came (i.e. either iTunes/LinkShare or Amazon.com). Any other images that appear on CafeSongbook.com pages are either in the public domain or appear through the specific permission of their owners. Such permission will be acknowledged in this space on the folio where the image is used. For further information on Cafe Songbook policies with regard to the above matters, run across our "About Cafe Songbook" page (link at elevation and bottom of every page).

The Cafe Songbook Record/Video Cabinet: Selected Recordings of "I Wish I Were in Love Again" (All Tape/Video Cabinet entries below include a music-video of this page'south featured song. The year given is for when the studio track was originally laid downward or when the live performance was given.)

Performer/Recording Index (*indicates accompanying music-video) Judy Garland (1947 & 1948*) Frank Sinatra (1956)* Carmen McRae (1965)* Tony Bennett (1973) Bobby Curt (1975) Rosemary Clooney (1958 & 1989) Wesla Whitfield (1997) Joni Mitchell (2000) Stacey Kent (2001)* Amada McBroom (2002)* Karen Akers (2006) Audra McDonald (2006)*

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1947 & 1948 Judy Garland album: The Consummate Decca Masters (Plus) Notes: This is a four CD box gear up including two takes of "I Wish I Were in Love Over again," both recorded with vocal by Garland and pianoforte accompaniment by Eadie Griffith and Rack Godwin in Hollywood on November 15, 1947. Click here for Less expensive individual CDs containing versions of the song--including duet with Rooney. Video: See below for alive duet with Mickey Rooney in Words and Music, 1948)

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1956 Frank Sinatra album: A Swingin Affair (arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle) Notes: The recording was made on Nov 20, 1956 and is Sinatra's only recording of the song. Click here for other Sinatra albums containing this track. Video: For streaming lyrics, lookout and listen in the Cafe Songbook Lyrics Lounge, this page.

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1965 Carmen McRae albums: Alive or Woman Talk Notes: The performance on the video below is similar to only non exactly the same as the one on the albums referenced to a higher place. The anthology track was recorded live at The Hamlet Gate, New York, in Dec 1965, and originally released on Mainstream (MRL 800) Woman Talk. The video below is Carmen performing in Germany, c. 1965, accompanied by the Clarke-Boland Big Band. (Please complete or break 1 video before starting another.)

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1973 Tony Bennett album: Tony Bennett Sings The Rodgers and Hart Songbook Notes: Bennett originally recorded 20 Rodgers and Hart tracks at CBS studios in NYC, September 28-30, 1973, with Cherry-red Braff, trumpet, George Barnes and Wayne Wright, guitars, and John Giuffrida, bass. After much ado about many things, they were eventually released on two albums through the private Improv label in 1976 and 1977. Rhino records has reissued the original sessions in remastered audio on one CD, which is a great thing for everyone.

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1975 Bobby Curt album: Bobby Short Celebrates Rodgers and Hart Notes: Studio LP originally recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios, NYC, October, 1975 with personnel: Bobby Short (vocals, piano); Beverly Peer (bass); Richard Sheridan (drums, percussion). Curt, main cabaret pianist and vocalizer held along at the Buffet Carlyle in NYC for several decades. Its hard to remember of performers who served Rodgers and Hart, specially with Hart's tender still bitter ironies, improve than he.

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1958 & 1989 Rosemary Clooney albums: Swing Around Rosie; Best of the Hold Years 1958 1989 Best of the Agree Years (2 CDs) Notes: In 1958, Clooney recorded "I Wish I Were in Love Once more" as a single on Coral which then appeared on the LP Swing Around Rosie. On this recording she is accompanied by The Buddy Cole Trio. In 1989 she recorded the song for Concord Jazz on the anthology Show Tunes. The track has been re-released on The Best of the Concord Years. Personnel on this anthology includes Scott Hamilton (tenor sax), Warren Vache' (cornet), John Oddo (piano), John Clayton (bass) and Jeff Hamilton (drums). The swell preponderance of songs on the Concord collection are jazz inflected versions of American Songbook standards (no music video currently available). "The fact that i of the near successful pop singers of the '50s went on to become i of the near acclaimed jazz singers of the '80s and '90s shouldn't be marked up to the simple compunction of the WWII generation of jazz vocalists. Rosemary Clooney was comfortable (and skilled) singing in many different circumstances, and the fact that she could exhibit endless reserves of patience when forced to record pop fluff during the '50s by no means affected her love for the Great American Songbook — it may actually have intensified it" (from iTunes review).

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Wesla Whitfield (1997) album: Teach Me Tonight Notes: On this studio album, arrangements and piano are by Whitfield'south husband Michael Greensill; reeds, Noel Jewkes; bass, Michael Moore; drums, Joe La Barbera (no video currently available).

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Joni Mitchell (2000) anthology: Both Sides Now Notes: Mitchell's venture into jazz inflected Songbook selections was recorded in 2000 at Air Studios, UK and includes arrangements by Gordon Jenkins and Vince Mendoza. "Joni Mitchell is no stranger to jazz, as evidenced by her work with the legendary bassist and composer Charles Mingus toward the end of his life. On her 20th album, Mitchell forgoes the outer reaches of Mingus'southward jazz in favor of interpreting more traditional American vocal pop. By interpreting material normally associated with Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, the Canadian iconoclast travels downward the same road as her old pal Linda Ronstadt. Different Ronstadt's mid-'80s 3-album foray with Nelson Riddle into the swell American standards songbook, Mitchell approaches this projection on a more than personal and conceptual level, equally she traces the arc of a modernistic romantic relationship. "Backed by the bouncing sounds of the London Symphony Orchestra, Mitchell's glassy vocals provide a perfect match as she goes from discovering love ("At Last") to seeing it begin to crumble ("Sometimes I'm Happy") and ultimately collapse ("Stormy Weather"). Jazz greats Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock add some seize with teeth to the lush orchestrations. Mitchell weaves a personal touch into the conceptual framework by including a radically altered version of her own "A Case of Yous" and "Both Sides Now." BOTH SIDES NOW provides a haven for pop-song fans whose definition of the genre begins and ends with Sinatra" (from CD Universe Product Description).

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Stacey Kent (2001) album: In Love Over again: The Music of Richard Rodgers Notes: Studio album recorded at Ardingly, England, July-September, 2001 with Jim Tomlinson, tenor sax and flute; Colin Oxley, guitar; David Newton, piano; Simon Thorpe, bass; Jasper Kviberg, drums. Video: Same rails as on album referenced in a higher place (Please consummate or interruption i video before starting another.)

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Karen Akers (2006) album: Like it Was Notes: Scott Yanow describes Akers on this studio album as a "superior cabaret singer" who sticks to the lyrics as written while being accompanied by jazz inflected sidemen including Dave Schiavone (flute, saxophone); Don Rebic (piano); Chip Jackson (bass instrument); Eric Willis (drums)-- from CD Universe.

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