| "Manhattan" | |
|---|---|
 Sheet music cover (1925) | |
| Song | |
| Published | 1925 byEdward B. Marks Music Co. |
| Genre | Pop |
| Composer | Richard Rodgers |
| Lyricist | Lorenz Hart |
"Manhattan" is apopular song and part of theGreat American Songbook. The music was written byRichard Rodgers and the lyrics byLorenz Hart for the 1925 revueGarrick Gaieties.
In 1925, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart had been song-writing partners for six years, but had only sold one song to aBroadway show, "Any Old Place with You", which was bought by former vaudeville performer, now producer,Lew Fields. On August 26, 1919, he inserted it into his current musical,A Lonely Romeo, at the Casino Theater. (Inserting new songs into running musicals was a common practice at that time.)
Since then, they had not sold another. They continued writing, but were only able to donate songs to a long list of amateur or benefit shows. Rodgers was so discouraged he briefly considered going into a business when they got an offer from the prestigious Theater Guild to contribute all the songs for a two–performance benefit musical review on Sunday, May 17, 1925. CalledGarrick Gaieties, it was to raise money for curtains for the Theater Guild's new theater. Given the Theater Guild’s reputation, they accepted. Rodgers also conducted the eleven-member orchestra.
Halfway through the matinee's second act, Holloway and Cochran performed the song in front of a plain curtain. It stopped the show. They sang two encores, using all the lyrics they had. Rodgers and Hart knew they had a hit, but there was only one more scheduled performance. They convinced the Guild to present matinees during the next week, before the evening performances of the Guild's current production. When these performances were all standing–room only, Rodgers convinced the Guild to close its current production and replace it with Garrick Gaieties. It ran for 211 performances with both getting $50 a week in royalties and Rodgers an additional $83 a week for conducting. Within a year, they had three shows on Broadway simultaneously.[1]
The song was performed bySterling Holloway in the original 1925 production.[2] It has been performed bythe Supremes,Lee Wiley,Oscar Peterson,Blossom Dearie,Tony Martin,Dinah Washington,Ella Fitzgerald, andMel Torme, among many others. It is often known as "We'll Have Manhattan" based on the opening line.
The song describes, in several choruses, the simple delights of Manhattan for a young couple in love. The joke is that these "delights" are really some of the worst, or cheapest, sights that New York has to offer; for example, the stifling, humid stench of the subway in summertime is described as "balmy breezes", while the noisy, grating pushcarts onMott Street are "gently gliding by". A particular Hart delight is the use of New York dialect to rhyme "spoil" with "boy and goil".
In the first stanza, the couple is obviously too poor to afford ahoneymoon to the popular summertime destinations of "Niag'ra" or "other places", so they claim to be happy to "save our fares". In the second stanza, they go for a walk downDelancey Street, which was in the 1920s a boisterous commercial strip, part of the working-classLower East Side. In the third stanza, they plan to go toGreenwich Village, to watch "Modern men itch to be free". "And Bowling Green you'll see with me" links to the previous paeon to liberty in that after the reading of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, a mob marched on Bowling Green and tore down a statue ofKing George III. In the fourth stanza, it is revealed that the only rural retreat they can afford to go to is "Yonkers", and the only restaurant they can afford is to "starve together inChilds'" – a restaurant chain serving inexpensive meals, popular with middle- and working-class people.[3] In later stanzas, other places they will go to are likewise free – Central Park, "theBronx Zoo",Coney Island,Brighton Beach, and to view the much-criticized statue of "Civic Virtue". The final reference toInspiration Point (Hudson River Greenway), along Old Riverside Drive, refers to how it was a well-known meeting place for lovers, and 'At The Station House we'll end" suggests they may be arrested for public indecency, and couldn't care less.
Since its debut, it has regularly appeared in popular culture. Early hits in 1925 were byBen Selvin andPaul Whiteman.[4] It was first heard on film in the 1929 shortMakers of Melody, a tribute to Rodgers and Hart sung byRuth Tester and Allan Gould. Since then, it has been used in the Rodgers and Hart biopicWords And Music (1948),Two Tickets To Broadway (1951),Don't Bother To Knock (1952) (sung by Anne Bancroft),Beau James (1957),Silent Movie (1976),Tempest (1982),Mighty Aphrodite (1995),The English Patient (1996),Kissing Jessica Stein (2001),Mad Men ("New Amsterdam", 2007), and many other movies and TV shows. In the filmAll About Eve (1950), the song is played on the piano at the party when Margo and Max are in the kitchen. In the eighth episode ("Isle of Joy", 2025) of theDisney+ showDaredevil: Born Again, "Manhattan" is performed live by Hal Leonard Big Band at Mayor Fisk's Black and White Ball.
As times progress, the song's reference to whatever long-running show is popular on Broadway changes with each cover version. The original lyrics referenceAbie's Irish Rose, which ran on Broadway from 1922 to 1927. The Ella Fitzgerald rendition from 1956 mentionsMy Fair Lady, as doesDinah Washington's 1959 recording, whileLee Wiley andRosemary Clooney referenceSouth Pacific.
In the early and mid-1950s, singerJulius La Rosa became a national celebrity for his exposure on several of the shows hosted by one of the most popular television stars of the era,Arthur Godfrey. On October 19, 1953, La Rosa sang "Manhattan" on one of Godfrey's radio shows. Immediately after he finished, Godfrey fired him on the air, saying, "that was Julie's swan song with us", although the song had nothing to do with the firing. On another CBS radio program, the crime dramaBroadway Is My Beat, its closing theme was a version of "Manhattan" played piano-bar style.
Crazy Otto released a version of the song on his 1958EPCrazy Otto International, Vol. 2. as part of medley with the songs "Dungaree Doll" and "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now".[5]
For many years during the 1960s and 1970s, radio stationWABC (AM) used the notes from the "We'll turn Manhattan" lyric and used it as the basis for their jingles.[6]The jingles were changed (specifically, the second note) around 1976 so that WABC would no longer be required to pay royalties for use of the melody.[7][8]
