My Funny Valentine
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"My Funny Valentine" is a jazz standard, appearing on over 1300 albums performed by over 600 artists.
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[edit] Origin
The song was composed by Richard Rodgers to lyrics by Lorenz Hart and first appeared in the musical comedy Babes in Arms which opened at the Shubert Theatre, New York, on April 14, 1937 and ran for 289 performances, transferring to the Majestic Theatre on October 25, 1937.
"My Funny Valentine" was first sung by Mitzi Green in the role of Susie Ward, the talented young sweetheart of Valentine White (played by Ray Heatherton). In 1939, a film of Babes in Arms, starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, was released. In it, Garland's character, Patsy, sings the song to Rooney's character, Mickey.
[edit] Funny Again
The song reemerged in the 1950s and was performed by most of the great jazz musicians and popular vocalists of the time including: Gerry Mulligan, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Linda Ronstadt, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Stan Getz, Paul Desmond, Tony Bennett, Ben Webster, Buddy Rich, Anita O'Day, Mel Tormé, Rickie Lee Jones and many, many others.
The song made it to the top of the charts when Chet Baker released a very popular and influential version (released on the album "My Funny Valentine" / Blue Note Records). His soft, delicate and serene delivery introduced the world to Chet Baker's singing skills (he was previously known only for his trumpeting skills, also displayed on this recording). Baker is still associated more with "My Funny Valentine" than with any other of the long list of songs he recorded.
Chet's version of the song leaves out the first stanza, instead beginning with the second stanza that starts with, "My funny Valentine, sweet comic valentine". As a result of this, nearly every subsequent version of this song begins the same way. The most notable exception to this rule are songs recorded from the many performances of the musicals Babes in Arms and Pal Joey. (The first stanza is clearly a female voice speaking about her man, giving male singers an additional reason to omit it.)
The third stanza seems quite odd at first. It begins with a series of accusatory and rude questions that one wouldn't necessarily expect in a romantic tune. It quickly apologizes for the odd questions with assurances and then ends with the romantic sentiments of the last two verses.
[edit] Covers of note
Since then it has entered the Great American Songbook, and has had many notable performances, including:
- (1952) Chet Baker had a hit with a recording he made of the song with Gerry Mulligan
- (1955) It was featured in the movie Gentlemen Marry Brunettes.
- (1955) Frank Sinatra included it on his album Songs for Young Lovers, and afterwards it became one of the songs most associated with his live performances.
- (1956) Ella Fitzgerald sang it on her album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook.
- (1957) Kim Novak sang it in Pal Joey
- (1960) Dinah Shore - recorded the song on her album with Andre Previn, "Dinah Sings, Previn Plays". The track was included on the complilation CD "Blue Valentines, From Blue Note with Love", which also includes the Chico Hamilton and Chet Baker versions of the song.
- (1962) Bill Evans and Jim Hall recorded the song on their album Undercurrent. Unusually, they take it at a lively tempo, around 190 bpm.
- (1965) Miles Davis released a live album titled My Funny Valentine.
- (1967) Barbra Streisand chose it as the opener track for Simply Streisand
- (1976) Dolly Parton performed the song on her 1970s variety show, though she later stated that it was a bad choice, as the jazz standard was not suited to her voice or vocal stylings.
- (1979) Elvis Costello sang it on two singles and it was included in his compilation Taking Liberties the next year.
- (1985) Nico sang it on her final solo album, Camera Obscura.
- (1989) The soundtrack of the film The Fabulous Baker Boys by Dave Grusin. Performed by Michelle Pfeiffer.
- (1990) Carly Simon sang it on her album My Romance.
- (1994) Van Morrison sang it on his album A Night in San Francisco.
- (1995) The soundtrack of the film Waiting To Exhale featured a rendition by Chaka Khan.
- (1999) Matt Damon sang it in the film The Talented Mr. Ripley.
- (2000) Angela McCluskey sang My Funny Valentine with Tryptich on the album Curio.
- (2001) Kristin Chenoweth sang it on her album Let Yourself Go.
- (2003) Tom Barman sang My Funny Valentine during his project with Guy van Nueten
- (2004) Johnny Dorelli sang My Funny Valentine in his solo album Swingin'.
- (2005) Constantine Maroulis sang My Funny Valentine during the Broadway Musicals round on the fourth season of American Idol. The song was chosen as Maroulis' cover song for the top twelve compilation record, The Showstoppers.
- (2005) Rufus Wainwright chose it for the compilation Sweetheart.
- (2005) Over the Rhine concluded their album Drunkard's Prayer with the song.
- (2005) Kanye West sampled Etta James' version on his sophomore album Late Registration, song Addiciton.
- (2006) Bradley Joseph released an instrumental arrangement of My Funny Valentine on his album, Piano Love Songs.
- (2006) Elliott Yamin, during season five of Idol, Yamin sang My Funny Valentine.
- (2007) Melinda Doolittle, a season 6 American Idol contestant, sang My Funny Valentine during the top 10 girls round on February 28th, and she received stellar reviews by the judges.
[edit] Structure
The basic structure of the song is as follows:
- 8 bars of A
- 8 bars of A'
- 8 bars of B
- 12 bars of A
This simple and classic structure makes it easy to adapt to other genres, and for jazz musicians to improvise over the established chords.
[edit] Trivia
- The 30 Rock episode Black Tie (30 Rock episode) which aired February 2nd, 2007 features the song "My Funny Valentine" in the scene towards the end, when Gerhardt Hapsburg commits suicide.
- Session 15 of the popular anime series Cowboy Bebop is named after the song.
- A Full House episode, "Joey's Funny Valentine", is named after this song.
- A movie was released in 2005 named Funny Valentine
- The song is featured in the pilot of the series John Doe, played on piano by the main character.
- "My Funny Valentine" is featured in a Friends episode on a mixtape.
- Late R&B singer Aaliyah sang the song in the contest Star Search.
- Herman's Head used the song My Funny Valentine
Episode Number: 43 Season Num: 2 First Aired: Sunday February 14, 1993 Prod Code: n/a
[edit] Movies featuring My Funny Valentine
- Pal Joey (1957) - performed by Kim Novak
- Handicap (1968) - Duke Ellington
- Sharky's Machine (1981) - Chet Baker
- Let's Get Lost (1988) - Biography of Chet Baker
- The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) - performed by Michelle Pfeiffer
- Malice (1993) - performed by Gene Harris
- Waiting to Exhale (1995) - performed by Chaka Khan
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) - performed by Matt Damon
- The Cooler (2003) - performed by Tierney Sutton
- The Company (2003) - 5 different versions performed by: Marvin Laird and Clay Ruede, Elvis Costello, Lee Wiley, Chet Baker, and Kronos Quartet.
- Ashura (2005) - performed by Sting
