Cole Porter - You're the Top - A Visual Guide

Cole Porter loved to write songs with lists of various items. "You're the Top" is probably the best known of these list songs. It was written for the Broadway show "Anything Goes" in 1934. Porter composed it during a cruise on Germany's Rhine River. He asked his fellow passengers to tell him what they considered important in their lives, or important in general, and Porter worked them into the lyric. For the record, he names an astonishing 37 persons, places and things in the course of the song. I've included a visual reference to every item he mentions.


Actually there are many variations on "You're the Top," with the list changing with the times. This version is the one Porter himself recorded in 1934. It's been digitally remastered and cleaned up and sounds about as good as it did the day he laid down the track. Porter wasn't much of a singer, but he more than makes up for that with his enthusiasm and sense of fun.

Category:

Entertainment

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• Cole Porter
• You're the Top

[greatdaibutsu]

no sound

[bobtoomey]

@greatdaibutsu Sounds fine to me. Try again.  It's a lovely piece.

[Morahman7vnNo2]

Maybe for 1:11 you could have put a still shoot from the original 1968 "The Producer."

[bobtoomey]

Hi, @Morahman7vnNo2

Interesting suggestion. You're referring to Mel Brooks' "The Producers," a very funny movie where a couple of dudes set out to deliberately produce a Broadway flop. And it's true that Porter mentions that he's a flop at that point in the video. But that doesn't quite fit in with what I was doing here. When Porter names an object, I illustrate it. But when he sings about himself, I show a picture of Porter, and that's what happens here. But thanks for watching.

[rolandrog]

You're the top and I'm the bottom but without the meat in the middle, there wouldn't be a sandwich!

[nelly7412]

@bobtoomey Y like the video very much. Y used it in order to help my childrens when Y teach them how to pronuce in English. And also they re travel thanks for the illustration. nelly 7412

[whiteorangez]

Your The Tops People!

[Hawbitten]

Bioshock brought me here. Now I think I'm in love with Cole porter.

[irinka94]

thanks!

[VannDL]

No, you're the top Cole Porter

[mommacat25]

Nice job, Bob.

[Ezekiel199]

I was down at the Waldorf=Astoria today, and Cole Porter's piano still sits in the lobby there. A gold plaque on it says something like, "Some of the greatest music of the 20th century was produced on this piano by Cole Porter, Waldorf Resident (1933-1964) :)

[followthefleet1]

You made a needed contribution by posting the digitally enhanced version. I've heard only the much scratchier recording of Porter singing his song. I didn't know the story of its composition on a Rhine Cruise either. What a talent. But along with this talent is his human touch, and his empathetic understanding of the times he lived.

[TheMilagros59]

wonder  magnificat