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orestesfasting's review against another edition
funny
informative
medium-paced
3.75
The lyrics themselves are absolutely hilarious as a rule - these, at least, are the ones that work best on paper. Arguably the most beautiful songs (eg If Love Were All) are simple on paper and improved by music, but he has enough Belloc esque lyrics to make this work like a book of very funny poetry. The irony, of course, is that these lyrics are better than Porter’s when written down but don’t gain as much musically as Porter’s - perhaps they’re slightly overwritten, in places - but it means that the book really does work. What I would really like is more commentary from the great man himself than just a page per decade on what he was up to at the time, but I suppose this was pre Sondheim (now the world and his wife wants to write their Hat). I would certainly have Noël Coward to a dinner party though; even if he didn’t answer my questions about his lyrics, he would be undeniably witty company.
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