You're the Top

You're the Top

"You're The Top" is a Cole Porter song from the 1934 musical "Anything Goes". It is about a man and a woman who take turns complimenting each other. The best selling version was Paul Whiteman's Victor single, which made the top five.

It was the most popular song from "Anything Goes" at the start with hundreds of parodies. [James Redmond (editor) "Drama, Dance and Music" Cambridge University Press 1981 page 60]

The lyrics are particularly significant because they offer a snapshot as to what was highly prized in the mid-1930s, and demonstrate Porter's rhyming ability.

Some of the lyrics were re-written by P.G. Wodehouse for the British version of 'Anything Goes.'

The song was covered by Barbra Streisand for the 1972 film "What's Up, Doc?"

A version sung by Cole Porter was featured on the soundtrack to the 2007 video game "BioShock." A different version, also sung by Porter, was featured in the end titles of the 2003 movie "De-Lovely."

Referenced

The following is a list of many of the references made in the song:
*Colosseum
*Louvre Museum
*melody from a symphony by Strauss
*Bendel bonnet
*Shakespeare's sonnets
*Mickey Mouse
*The Nile
*The Tower of Pisa
*Mona Lisa
*Vincent Youmans
*Mahatma Gandhi
*Napoleon Brandy
*Purple light of a summer night in Spain
*National Gallery
*Garbo's salary
*Cellophane
*Turkey Dinner
*The time of a Derby winner
*Arrow Shirts collar
*Coolidge Dollar
*Fred Astaire
*O'Neill Drama
*Whistler's Mama
*Camembert
*Rose
*Dante's Inferno
*The nose on the great Durante
*Dance in Bali
*Hot Tamale
*Botticelli
*Keats
*Shelley
*Ovaltine
*Boulder Dam
*The Moon
*Mae West's Shoulder
*G.O.P. (U.S. Republican Party)
*Waldorf salad
*Berlin ballad
*Zuider Zee
*Lady Astor
*Broccoli
*Steppes of Russia
*Ritz hot toddy
*Brewster body
*Bishop Manning
*Nathan panning
*A night at Coney
*The eyes of Irène Bordoni
*Tower of Babel
*Whitney stable
*Stein of beer
*A dress from Saks
*Next year's taxes
*Stratosphere
*Drumstick lipstick
*Irish Sweepstakes
*Pepsodent
*The pants on a Roxy usher

References


=External links=
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2120550/ Explication of lyrics] by Slate.com
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2121015/ Additional Explanation of lyrics] by Slate.com
* [http://www.playbill.com/features/article/64630.html Explication of lyrics] by Playbill
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2121688/ Additional risqué lyrics] at Slate.com of disputed provenance, possibly by Irving Berlin or Porter himself

show-tune-stub


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