Richard Rodgers

Richard Rodgers was born on this date, June 28, in 1902. I think of his music as well-informed academically. He does things that look as much like etudes as popular songs. Take the song "Lover," for instance. It's a series of chords in half-step descending order, more of a challenge to the scale than a love song. I see that in a lot of his music, at least when I try to play it myself. Plenty of others of the Great American Songbook writers did similar things, but Rodgers seemed to do it most often. I see him as a formalist, in other words. I have no idea whether that's a popular opinion.

Rodgers's first musical partner was the lyricist Lorenz Hart, and their first big hit was "Manhattan." Somehow, I don't think the creation of that song was exactly like this:



That's from the film Words and Music. You've got to love the way Hollywood portrayed the act of songwriting. And this sort of portrayal was nothing new in 1948, when this movie was released. It goes back to practically the first talkies, like 1932's Love Me Tonight:



That, indeed, is the original lyrics of "Isn't It Romantic?" Lorenz Hart's lines always seem to be bursting with playfulness; unless you're really up on your standards, the comic lyrics of the song probably come as a surprise.

Rodgers's other great partner, Oscar Hammerstein II, appears way more conservative than Hart, or maybe the times had just changed from the sprightly revues of the 20s and 30s to the character- and plot-driven songs and plays of the 40s and 50s. Their first big hit together was Oklahoma, the entire plot of which revolves around which guy the girl will go out with on a date. In the London revival with the young Australian cowboy Hugh Jackman as Curly, the result seems...preordained.



If you haven't seen that version, watch it. It's a gem.

To a great extent, the life of Richard Rodgers is the life of the American theater. He won every award imaginable, he wrote dozens and dozens of standards, and his plays are still going strong, with a recent Broadway revival of South Pacific winning 7 Tony awards. And often, Rodgers's music stands alone:



And we would be remiss if we didn't mention the one Rodgers recording, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, that Rodgers absolutely hated. Not the song itself, but one particular version...



The story is that Rodgers wanted to sue the pants off them, but cooler heads prevailed. Which worked out fine. He ended up making more money just collecting the royalties.
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