Suvarna Garge (Editor)

But Not for Me (song)

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"But Not for Me" is a popular song, composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.

It was written for their musical Girl Crazy (1930) and introduced in the original production by Ginger Rogers. It is also in the 1992 musical based on Girl Crazy, Crazy for You. Judy Garland sang it in the 1943 film version of Girl Crazy.

In 1959 Ella Fitzgerald included a version of the song on her landmark album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook. The rendition won the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance.

Singer Ketty Lester remade "But Not For Me" with a gospel arrangement which reached #10 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, #41 the Billboard Top 40, and #45 in the UK in 1962.

It is also featured in the 1979 Woody Allen movie Manhattan, the 1989 Rob Reiner movie When Harry Met Sally... (performed by Harry Connick, Jr.), the 1994 Mike Newell film Four Weddings and a Funeral, in the opening scene of the 1998 Bennett Miller documentary The Cruise, and in the 2012 anime Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope).

Beginning in 2012, it is being performed by Kelli O'Hara (Billie Bendix) in Act 2, Scene 1 of Joe Pietro's Broadway musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, which features the music of George and Ira Gershwin.

It also featured in Sedbergh Rose Theatre's 2012 performance of Farflung Mill by Sandra Gold Wood ably sung by Jenny Lamb and Kev Kendal

Notable recordings

  • Billie Holiday
  • Chet Baker, on the album Chet Baker Sings
  • Sam Cooke
  • Helen Forrest with Harry James (Columbia 36599, recorded 12/30/1941 )
  • Johnny Lytle, on the album Nice and Easy
  • Joshua Bell, in concert in London, London Symphony Orchestra, John Williams conducting (March 2, 2009 at the Barbican Center, London, England)
  • Jodi Benson, in the original cast recording of Crazy for You
  • Polly Bergen, on The Polly Bergen Show
  • Carol Burnett, performed on The Muppet Show
  • Chris Connor, on the album Masters of Jazz Vol. 5 Female Vocal Classics Rhino Records
  • Bobby Darin
  • Miles Davis, on the album Bags' Groove (1954 - instrumental version)
  • Sammy Davis Jr.
  • Doris Day, on the album Day By Day (1956)
  • Ella Fitzgerald, on the albums Ella Sings Gershwin (1950), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959) and Nice Work If You Can Get It (1983).
  • Red Garland - Red Garland's Piano (1956)
  • Rita Reys - The Cool Voice of Rita Reys (1956)
  • Judy Garland
  • Ahmad Jamal, on the album At the Pershing: But Not for Me (1958)
  • Julie London - Around Midnight (1960)
  • John Coltrane, on the album My Favorite Things (1961)
  • Georgia Brown, on the album Georgia Brown Sings Gershwin (1963)
  • Rosemary Clooney, on the album Rosemary Clooney Sings the Lyrics of Ira Gershwin (1979)
  • Linda Ronstadt, on the album For Sentimental Reasons (1986)
  • Elvis Costello, on the album The Glory of Gershwin (1994)
  • Elton John, on the Four Weddings and a Funeral soundtrack (1994)
  • John Pizzarelli, The John Pizzarelli Trio After Hours (1996)
  • Natalie Merchant, on the album Red Hot + Rhapsody (1998)
  • The Idea of North, on the album Here & Now (2003)
  • Ronnie Milsap, on the album Just for a Thrill (2004)
  • Chelsea Krombach, on her debut album Profile (2004)
  • Modern Jazz Quartet
  • Paul Motian with Joe Lovano
  • Frank Sinatra
  • Carol Sloane with Tommy Flanagan, piano, George Mraz, bass, and Al Foster, drums
  • Rod Stewart, on the album Stardust: The Great American Songbook Volume III (2004)
  • Sarah Vaughan, on The George Gershwin Songbook, Vol. 2
  • Dinah Washington
  • Teddy Wilson
  • Eliane Elias, on the album Something for You: Eliane Elias Sings & Plays Bill Evans (2008)
  • Diana Krall on the TV-series Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... in 2009
  • Lisa Ekdahl, on the album Heaven, Earth And Beyond (2002)
  • Joni James, on the album In the Still of the Night (1956)
  • Jermaine Jackson, on the album I Wish You L.O.V.E. Jazz standards (2012)
  • Kelli O'Hara, on the Broadway album Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012)
  • Masayoshi Furukawa with Takashi Matsunaga, piano, Shun Ishikawa, drums, Keisuke Torikoshi, bass, and Shinpei Ruike, trumpet, on the Kids on the Slope soundtrack. Arrangement by Yoko Kanno (2012)
  • Uri Caine, on album Rhapsody in Blue (2013)

    • References

    But Not for Me (song) Wikipedia
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