Ira Gershwin: Selected Lyrics (American Poets Project) Review

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(More customer reviews)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

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The collaboration of Ira and George Gershwin was one of the summits of American popular music. Ira Gershwin's lyrics-with their stylish simplicity, exuberant comic invention, and colloquial eloquence-have entered the culture, and Robert Kimball has collected the most memorable of them into a beguiling collection that includes Fascinating Rhythm Oh, Lady, Be Good! Someone to Watch Over Me 'S Wonderful My One and Only How Long Has This Been Going On? I've Got a Crush on You Embraceable You I Got Rhythm But Not for Me Let's Call the Whole Thing Off They Can't Take That Away from Me A Foggy Day (In London Town) Nice Work If You Can Get It Long Ago (and Far Away) The Man That Got Away and dozens more.

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