He wasn’t gay, but he sure gave gay people something to sing about. Many of his tunes are connected to gay sensibities & gay culture in the 20th century. As a young Musical Theatre Queen, Jule Styne played a significant role in my early love of theatre music. Styne the versatile, prolific songwriter whose tunes became standards for 3 generations & the composer of such classic Broadway musicals as Gypsy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes & Funny Girl, was born on this day- December 31st, in 1905.
Among Styne's enduring songs are: the Oscar-winning 3 Coins in the Fountain, I Don't Want to Walk Without You, Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, Everything's Coming Up Roses, & Don’t Rain On My Parade.
His name was always less familiar than his music. This was probably because of his very flexibility. Styne: "You write as well as who you write with," & he usually let the lyricist & the star set the tone for the score.
Styne: "If you can't be a collaborator, you don't belong in the theater, & I am the greatest collaborator there is."
Styne estimated that he had written 2,000 songs, had published 1,500 and had 200 hits. Styne: "I'm talking about hit hits. The others were popular, but there were 200 hit hits: It's Been a Long, Long Time, It's Magic, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, Time After Time, People, Five Minutes More.
In Hollywood, he teamed up with Sammy Cahn for the romantic: I've Heard That Song Before, I'll Walk Alone & 3 Coins in the Fountain. On Broadway, he shifted from satire: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Leo Robin, to drama- Gypsy with Stephen Sondheim, to glitter- Funny Girl with Bob Merrill, & also working with Comden & Green on shows including 2 On The Aisle & Bells Are Ringing.
His songs often bore the stamp of the singers who introduced them: Carol Channing, Judy Holliday, Doris Day, Mary Martin, Barbra Streisand & Ethel Merman. How gay is that?
He once told an interviewer that he preferred to write the music before the lyrics, as he had done on Gypsy, his collaboration with Sondheim. Styne: "When the music is written first, the lyricist will do his best job because he is not writing to his own preconceived rhythmic notions."
Don't Rain on My Parade
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
Everything's Coming Up Roses
Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry
I Fall In Love Too Easily
I Still Get Jealous
Just In Time
Let Me Entertain You
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Long Before I Knew You
Make Someone Happy
The Party's Over
People
Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)
Time After Time
My favorite Styne song is Neverland:
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