Rodgers & Hart-Can't Separate them At All: In starting this blog, I would headline the composer and sometimes mention the lyric writer. But there can't really be a song without words-all you have is a musical composition. Henceforth, equal billing with be given to the tunesmith and the wordsmith.
Rodgers, as we have noted, is a master of melodic writing, the notes that soar and engage the listener. Lorenz Hart, a small, pixieish lyricist wrote so touchingly about all aspects of love ( as a Cole Porter wrote in" Love For Sale" " Old Love, New Love, Every kind but True Love."
In the song " Why Can't I" Rodgers & Hart combine in a rueful speculation of a woman who has not found the one, the one she longs for. Her loneliness is captured by one line " Only my book in bed, knows how I look in bed, only my pillow nearby" . The lady is willing to explore conjugal bliss but there seem to be no takers for the moment.
The issues at hand are ones that everyone has faced, is facing or will face and so the song has universal meaning for both men and woman. Sometimes a mere 32 bar song can convey meaning and insight in a mere 3 minutes or less.
This is a lovely duet between two reigning Broadway and concert singers, Dawn Upshaw and Audra Macdonald who take turns lamenting their lonely status concluding in the line " Everybody has someone, why can't I ?"
Fortunately, Rodgers & Hart wrote more positive and almost ecstatic songs about love and romance which we will offer in future posts.
http://youtu.be/2ETAqjoiQMQ
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