My Funny Valentine

"My Funny Valentine"
Song
Published1937 by Chappell & Co.
GenreTraditional pop
ComposerRichard Rodgers
LyricistLorenz Hart

"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart coming of age musical Babes in Arms in which it was introduced by teenaged star Mitzi Green. The song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 1300 albums performed by over 600 artists. One of them was Chet Baker,[1] for whom it became a signature song.[2][3] In 2015 the Gerry Mulligan quartet's 1953 version of the song (featuring Chet Baker) was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for its "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy".[4] Mulligan also recorded the song with his Concert Jazz Band in 1960.[5]

History

Babes in Arms opened at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway, in New York City on April 14, 1937 and ran for 289 performances.[6] In the original play, a character named Billie Smith (played by Mitzi Green) sings the song to Valentine "Val" LaMar (played by Ray Heatherton).[7] The character's name was changed to match the lyric of this song.[8]

In the song, Billie describes Valentine's characteristics in unflattering and derogatory terms (at one point Billie describes Valentine's looks as "laughable", in keeping with the title), but ultimately affirms that he makes her smile and that she does not want him to change. The description of Valentine was consistent with Lorenz Hart's own insecurities and belief that he was too short and ugly to be loved.[9] The lyrics are sufficiently gender-neutral to allow the song to be sung about a person of any gender, and a large proportion of cover versions of the song have been by men describing a hypothetical woman.

Chart versions and covers

The song first hit the charts in 1945, performed by Hal McIntyre with vocals by Ruth Gaylor.[10] It only appeared for one week and hit No. 16.[11] Frank Sinatra recorded a hit version in 1954.

In addition to Chet Baker's 1954 recording, the song has also been covered by Nico, Kenny Rogers, Elvis Costello, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Steve Goodman, Rickie Lee Jones, Chaka Khan, Julie London, Harpo Marx, Gerry Mulligan, Josipa Lisac, Tom Barman and Guy Van Nueten, Rita Reys and Barbra Streisand, amongst others.[12][13][4][14][15]

The Chet Baker and the Julie London versions of the song were credited in the 1981 film Sharky's Machine, which Burt Reynolds starred in and directed. Doc Severinsen produced the soundtrack for the film,[13] along with Al Capps and Bob Florence.[16]

In the 1999 Anthony Minghella film The Talented Mr. Ripley (based on a Patricia Highsmith novel), Matt Damon performs the song in his own voice as the title character Tom Ripley, who appears onstage at a smoky Italian jazz bar.[17]

The song inspired the Italian designer Ettore Sottsass in his choice of a name for the iconic late 1960s Olivetti Valentine typewriter.[18][19][20]

In Steel Ball Run, the name of the main antagonist, Funny Valentine, is a direct reference to this song. His Stand's ability to resurrect him when mortally wounded with a new physical body from an alternate self is another reference to the song's numerous covers.

In January 19, 2012 on the show Grey’s Anatomy in the season 8 episode 12 “Hope for the Hopeless”, Richard Webber, Richard Webber sings the song to his wife Adele Webber over the gallery intercom, after she has a Alzheimer’s flashback.

In the 2018 Netflix series The Good Cop (American TV series), the song's allegedly misogynistic lyrics are part of the plot in episode 6, "Did the TV Star Do It?" It is also a punchline at the end of the episode.

In 2022, a spider genus and species were named Funny valentine.[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Jazz Standards Songs and Instrumentals (My Funny Valentine)".
  2. ↑ Schwanebeck, Wieland; McFarland, Douglas (8 October 2018). Patricia Highsmith on Screen. Springer. ISBN 9783319960500.
  3. ↑ "My Funny Valentine". Jazz Messengers.
  4. 1 2 Wallace, Steve (2020-01-30). "My (Not So) Funny Valentine: A Brief History". The WholeNote. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  5. ↑ "National Recording Registry To "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive"". The Library of Congress. 25 March 2015. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Trager, James (2005). The People's Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record of Human Events from Prehistory to the Present (3 ed.). Detroit: Gale. ISBN 0805031340.
  7. ↑ Playbill from 1937 Babes in Arms theatrical performance.
  8. ↑ Rodgers, Richard (1975) Musical Stages: an autobiography. New York: Random House, page 181
  9. ↑ Holden, Stephen."Television Review: Thou Rodgers, Thou Hart, So Fizzy, So Smart", The New York Times, January 6, 1999.
  10. ↑ Orodenker, M. H. (1945-01-27). "Popular Record Reviews". Billboard. Vol. 27, no. 4. ISSN 0006-2510.
  11. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1992). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954: The History of American Popular Music. Record Research, Inc. ISBN 0-89820-083-0. As cited in My Funny Valentine (1937), written, compiled, and published by jazzstandards.com.
  12. ↑ Zollo, Paul (2021-02-15). "Seven Favorite Covers of "My Funny Valentine"". American Songwriter. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  13. 1 2 "Sharky's Machine (1981)". B&S About Movies. July 9, 2021. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  14. ↑ Janjatović, Petar (2024). Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960–2023. Belgrade: self-released / Makart. p. 178.
  15. ↑ "Recensie: Barman, Tom & Nueten, Guy Van - Live (album)". OOR (in Dutch). Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  16. ↑ "Sharky's Machine (1981) Full Cast & Crew". IMDB. 2023. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  17. ↑ "The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) - Trivia - IMDb". IMDB. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  18. ↑ "Perché Valentine è l'oggetto di design assoluto". Rivista Studio (in Italian). 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  19. ↑ "1969, odissea nel design: così Olivetti inventò la tecnologia che ha stile". La Stampa (in Italian). 6 December 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  20. ↑ "Valentine, Italy's Iconic Ruby Red Typewriter". ELLE Decor. 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  21. ↑ Lin, Yejie; Zhao, Huifeng; Koh, Joseph K H; Li, Shuqiang (2022). "Taxonomy notes on twenty-eight spider species (Arachnida: Araneae) from Asia". Zoological Systematics. 47 (3): 198–270. doi:10.11865/zs.2022303.

Further reading

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