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.

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  Entertainment

[SuperWoodyboy]

No No No...a GENIUS of the music world...but a horrible singer...Same as Fred Astaire...Genius when i comes to dance but OWWWW....he was a rotten singer!

[Bob Toomey]

Astaire was an outstanding singer. Perfect diction, perfect pitch, always on key, always on tune. Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and many other major songwriters wanted Astaire, more than anybody, to be the one to introduce their songs to the public.  Listen to him again. He was vastly underrated by the public.

[Kimarie Bey]

How many people got here via watching the Woody Allen pic: "Midnight in Paris"? :-)

[Joy Roberts]

too bad his mother had to buy him a spot on the charts and in society....and Ashley judd was his perfect Cover Wife...

[flurkate]

"Midnight in Paris"-nice

[jht1414]

I'm pretty sure he sang the original version of "I'm a gigolo"

[deborah fraguito]

♥♪♫ •*`*•.¸☆ Cole Porter é o máximo !!! Vocês também são no meu coração! Que vídeo lindo! Um guia visual para o que ele considera "top" e eu também !♪♫ •*`*•.¸☆♥ ☆MICKEY MOUSE... ☆TORRE DE PISA.. ☆MONA LISA ... ☆ GANDHI ....☆GRETA GARBO ......☆STRAUSS... ☆FRED ASTAIRE ...☆UMA ROSA ...... ☆COLISEU......☆SHAKESPEARE ...

[meng biao liew]

Yah, I search for Zelda Fritzgerald as well.

[DailyBrusher]

What a delight! So much fun to see this illustrated! Thanks for your work!

[Nelson676]

I wish there were more songs recorded that he sang on. The only ones I know that have Cole Porter singing are this song, and his version of "Anything Goes." If anyone knows any other songs where Cole is singing, pleaase let me know what they are! I'd love to hear them !

I have looked, but all I keep finding are Cole Porter songs sang by anybody but Cole Porter..

[miguelallende]

What can I say...it doesn't get any better. Thanks for posting.

[Horwitz86]

LOVE THIS thank you very much!