Cole Porter Books

Grade 2/3 with nice arrangements. The only problem I have with this series of song books (I have several)is that the music is printed too close to the binding, so you have to nearly break the binding for the book to stay open when used. Wire binding and/or larger pages would be a big help.

I had ordered this as a gift for my mother for her birthday. When it arrived, it was in perfect condition and my mother, a huge Cole Porter fan, absolutely adored it.

The "Best of Cole Porter" far exceeded my expectations for beautiful music. The arrangements are complex enough for the advanced pianist, but also easily practiced by the beginner. The songs selected, are a delight.

If you love Cole Porter's music there is nothing better than this collection of songs. I've made use of every song. Each one of the pieces are from some of his best works. It's a nearly perfect combination of some of the greatest songs ever written. One minor disappointment is that it doesn't contain more, or that there isn't other volumes of the same book. Basically, if you need/want a collection of Porter's music there isn't any reason why you shouldn't have this book. :-).

"The Best of Cole Porter" contains some of his best songs ever (in my opinion at least). The only thing that would make this item better is if it contained all of Mr. Porter's songs. For anyone not to familiar with Cole Porter, this book offers a great introduction to his music.

Everything about this one is right. Beautiful job. And so elegant which is really so fitting for Cole Porter. I think it's worthy of him. What a joy!

A "must have" for any true Cole Porter fan or music researcher. This collection has the all the lyrics for Cole Porter's almost-1000 songs! Of particular note is an awesome "phrase index" for looking up common phrases and quotes in order to find what song a phrase is from. It also includes copyright information for every song for those who want to quote Cole for whatever reason.

I wish I had known about this book sooner. This is a "must-buy" for anyone serious about Cole's work. What was of greatest interest to me was that all of the lyrics for Cole's 1937 "Rosalie" are included. If you want to read an alternate treatment, recommended is "Rosalie, A Storybook Operetta" with the incomparable lyrics of Cole Porter to move the romance along.

Another gift to my dad for Xmas and he was entertained with the stories and the lyrics. He didn't know about Noel...so we both learned something new. A very well-written and entertaining book.

Cole Porter and Noël Coward were, in many ways, the colossi of music and the theater during their era. And despite their different backgrounds, they had more than a few things in common. A parallel biography of the two men, and parallel analysis of their work, just makes sense. Stephen Citron has pulled it off admirably.

The book is arranged chronologically, and chapters alternate between the two men. Their lives frequently intersect and intertwine, but the still-significant differences between the two don't get lost. Citron is not only a skilled biographer. He also has an insightful eye for drama and music. His analysis of selected Porter and Coward songs, occupying the last sixty or so pages of the book, should be a handy reference and guide to the work of both men.

This book not only takes a fresh and thoroughly readable look at two extraordinary lives -- it also includes some excellent assessments of their songs. I've read most everything published on these two men and found this book worthwhile and highly enjoyable. If only all composer bios were so intelligently handled!

This is a review of the 1972 edition of BILLY BALDWIN DECORATES with a Forward by Cleveland Amory. Tellingly, it is dedicated to his late mentor Ruby Ross Wood (who headed the first department store decorator department and was the ghost-writer for THE HOUSE IN GOOD TASTE). For the uninitiated, some of the most striking aspects of the book are the still-stylish rooms and still-valid advice. One of the Fathers of American Decorating, Billy Baldwin gives his thoughts on interior design illustrated by drawings and photos, in black & white and in color, of his projects. The photo reproduction quality is not to the standards of today's glossy coffee table books, but the content makes up for the short fall. Chapters are Taste and Logic in Decorating, Rooms to Live In, How to Work With A Decorator, The Elements of Decoration, The Bones of a Beautiful Room, Decorating for How and Where You Live, Your Own Personal Stamp, and The Big Question of Change. Each chapter also has informative sub-chapters.

Some of his most famous projects are featured. Readers can draw their own conclusions as to the similarities of two of the most admired -- his own small studio apartment in a modern high-rise building on Manhattan's Upper East Side and Cole Porter's apartment in the Waldorf Towers which housed is late wife's collection of French furniture. Both iconic Bachelor Pads have inspired countless imitations, rightfully so. Although Mr Baldwin claimed that "if you can tell I did a house, I didn't", his sense of style was unmistakeable and a good lesson to us all. This book is a must-have for everyone interested in residential design.

This book never appeared in print under this title and with this press. Instead, it appeared in 1991 with Blackwell under the title The Plato Cult and Other Philosophical Follies.

"The Cole Porter Years" is a marvelous collection of sheet music by that fabulous artist, Cole Porter. The sheet music is easy to read and follow making it a definite must have for all players of music. This item would be a great addition for any fan of Cole Porter.

As a child and beyond, I soaked up pop song lyrics that have remained cruelly fixed in memory and apparently ineradicable. Too often (and mysteriously) some snatch of what is most often retro and regrettable will surface. This can be highly annoying, as will be clear to those who've heard one of those appalling 1950s clunkers like "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" and finds that it periodically and mysteriously lays siege to their consciousness. Such bizarre "Many Splendored" lyrics as, "Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to sing" may then infest one's head for days.


I thought of this assault-by-heard-music syndrome when I began to look
into "Cole Porter, selected lyrics" - compiled by Editor Robert Kimball as a 21st-century salute to the astonishingly prolific master of both music and lyrics who died in 1964 at 73. He was witty, worldly, and a magician capable of amazing feats of legerdemain, not with wand but with words and music. Why, then, hadn't even one from the rich trove of Porter compositions - uber-sophisticated, sly, knowing - wedged itself within my brain?

I'd welcome being haunted, for example, by a Porter confection such as "Why Don't We Try Staying Home?" with its gently coaxing refrain, "What if we threw a party or two, And asked only you and me?" Or the get-on-with-life-after-loss lyrics of "It's All Right With Me": "You can't know how happy I am that we met/ I'm strangely attracted to you/ There's someone I'm trying so hard to forget/ Don't you want to forget someone too?"

The only frustration of this slender volume (one in the series sponsored by the "American Poets Project") is that it is slender! Some 800 of his compositions survive, it's said. I say, "Bring on more Porter!"

If you are going to only buy one Cole Porter Songbook this is the one to buy. Before I purchased "The Great Songs of Cole Porter" I bought Cole Porter Volume 1 and 2. I regret this purchase for 2 reasons. One, a lot of the chords listed above the bars were incorrect and two, that collection was missing some of the songs I wanted. i.e. "So In Love" from Kiss Me Kate and "Experiment" to name a few. Buy "The Great Songs of Cole Porter". The quality and quantity of familiar Cole Porter tunes are more prevalent in this collection. You'll be very satisfied with this purchase.

You're the Top is the song that I wrote my own words for. The reason is that it was my Valentine present to the woman that would eventually become my wife. I used phrases that related to our specific history and had it sung to her by the piano player who entertained at one of our favorite restaurants. There were a lot of jealous women that night and I finally got a positive answer to my proposal. It certainly is a love song all you need is the right mix of people and words. Also from Minneapolis.

THIS is NOT a romantic song. This song was sung in "Anything Goes," and it is sung by two characters who are not romantically involved, and will never be romantically involved. It is a fast beat with funny lyrics. When I was involved in a performance of this, I found this song (among two others) to be one of the funniest in the show. No romance here. Just a great song.

I disagree! Although it was originally intended to instill laughs - this song lives on to become a great expression of love, ADMIRATION, and sheer charm. The book itself is beautiful-the images accompanied by the song lyrics capture the song's spirit amazingly well. I gave this as a gift to my fiancé and he was delighted (we're even having the song as our 1st dance in our wedding because of it!). This book is a fantastic, unique gift ideal to give to your most loved. It is a thing of beauty.

An excellent comprehensive discography. This includes old and rare recordings. Finding old and rare recordings might prove difficult and/or completely impossible, but you will know what to look for. A complete reference for collectors (and libraries/researchers).