Think About It. Regrets. My best guess is that Cole Porter gave up the music of this life with few regrets. His popular songs added color and richness to the American Song Book. Younger readers who “think about it” may be inspired by the witty words and companion music that brightened the Broadway, Hollywood and popular song scene through half of the 20th century. Caution. Morals may be tainted by the “lifestyle” reflected in the lyrics peppered with references to the private lives of the seldom mentioned rich and famous of on the world stage.
I get no kick from cocaine but ” I Get a Kick out of You.” In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked at as something shocking, now heaven knows, “Anything Goes.” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” of course refers to a sugar daddy. You figure it out. John Bone, then manager of WBAT radio in Marion, Indiana nearly broke the studio window while banging on it when I played “Love for Sale”, banned from many radio stations across the country. I’m sure Mr. Porter didn’t intend to be rude or crude. It’s just that he circulated in “sophisticated” circles, which showed in his songs.
When out of state friends came to visit, Mary and I wanted to show them some of the Indianapolis we enjoy. On the agenda, a trip to the Indiana History Center. Boring? Wrong. You can control a look at the history of all parts of the state, walk through a “smoke screen” into re-creations of people and settings from long ago and search the Historical Society’s archives for glimpses of how the locals came to be Hoosiers. It’s the music that entertains me the most. The early jazz recordings by musicians who came to Gennett Records in Rochester to leave a legacy. Naturally there’s lots of lore from Hoagy Carmichael. But it’s the Cole Porter room where a properly dressed interpreter will sing your choice of Porter standards in a 1940’s inspired setting invoking the style of New York’s famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
Good luck. Kevin Johnson was on duty to tell the story and sing a favorite that I had requested. Seems that bragging to friends at lunch, the prolific songwriter offered that he could write a song about anything. Just as someone suggested he write about the next thing overheard in the restaurant, a waiter told some ladies nearby, “Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch today.” That provided a title. But wait ’til you hear “the rest of the story.”
Wealth and privilege might have kept him in his Peru Indiana home, but his personal lifestyle was not well suited for the area, so a “professional marriage” to a wealthy divorcée provided the setting for a life which only a catastrophic fall from a horse could mar. Other than that I believe when Cole Porter left the music of this life, he really had no Regrets. Think About It.
Permit me to suggest that you listen.