Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Where or When

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Published
  
1937

Composer(s)
  
Richard Rodgers

Writer(s)
  
Lorenz Hart

"Where or When" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms. It was first performed by Ray Heatherton and Mitzi Green. That same year, Hal Kemp recorded a popular version. It also appeared in the movie of the same title two years later. Dion and the Belmonts also released a successful remake of the song, which reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1960. In 1963, The Lettermen released their version as a single, which peaked at number 98 on the Hot 100. The song was used for the 1992 biopic Sinatra, starring Philip Casnoff; Frank Sinatra performs the song on stage at the Paramount Theatre.

Contents

Babes in Arms

"Where or When" is the first number to appear in the original Broadway production of Babes in Arms. The musical opens in Seaport, Long Island, on a hectic morning that finds most of the adult population embarking on a five-month vaudeville tour. Soon after his parents' departure, twenty-year-old Valentine LaMar (played by Ray Heatherton) discovers at his doorstep a young hitchhiker named Billie Smith (played by Mitzi Green). Instantly smitten, he engages her in a discussion of movie stars, self-defense maneuvers, and Nietzsche's theory of individualism, at which point Val impulsively steals a kiss. Both admit to a powerful sense of déjà vu and sing "Where or When" as a duet. MGM bought the screen rights to Babes in Arms in 1938, and the following year the studio released a film with that title, starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, that bore little resemblance to its stage predecessor; the characters and plot were substantially revised (by ten studio writers), and only two numbers were retained from the score. "Where or When" was one that survived, appearing 37 minutes into the film, sung by Betty Jaynes, Douglas McPhail and Garland in a scene depicting a rehearsal sequence, although Garland is cut short during her performance.

  • Danny Tanner, Joey Gladstone, and Jesse Katsopolis cover the song in the Season 7 episode of Full House, "Too Little Richard Too Late"
  • The song appears three times, sung by Molly Johnson, in the made-for-TV movie ghost noir Gotham (1988). The 2nd time it is played, Molly is shown singing it in a night club and Virginia Madsen (playing the ghost) recites the lyrics over her performance.
  • In her Academy Award winning performance in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Ellen Burstyn sings "Where or When" while playing her piano, shortly after the death of her husband from a trucking accident.

    • Analysis of the lyrics

    The lyrics of Where or When illustrate a memory anomaly known as déjà vu:

    "When you're awake, the things you think Come from the dream you dream Thought has wings, and lots of things Are seldom what they seem Sometimes you think you've lived before All that you live to day Things you do come back to you As though they knew the way Oh the tricks your mind can play It seems we stood and talked like this before. We looked at each other in the same way then. But I can't remember where or when... The clothes you're wearing are the clothes you wore The smile you are smiling you were smiling then, But I can't remember where or when... Some things that happen for the first time Seem to be happening again. And though it seems like we have met before, And laughed before, and loved before, But who knows where or when..."

    The line "Some things that happen for the first time..." is often misunderstood or misheard as "Some things that happened for the first time..." which changes the meaning. Rather than recalling past events which actually "happened", the lyrics refer to present events which "happen" for the first time, but which falsely seem to be recurring.

    References

    Where or When Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA