George Gershwin: Ten Terrific Songs on Film

To make us all feel like underachievers, George Gershwin, arguably the greatest American composer of the 20th century, had his first hit song, “Swanee,” when he was 21 and composed “Rhapsody in Blue” at the age of 26. Soon thereafter, the Brooklyn-born artist made his mark on the New York stage with the musicals Oh, Kay! (1925), Funny Face (1927), Girl Crazy (1929), the Pulitzer Prize-winning Of Thee I Sing (1931) and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935). Migrating to Hollywood in the mid-1930s, Gershwin entered the lofty world of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers with the score for Shall We Dance (1937), yielding a slew of songs—with lyrics by younger brother and frequent collaborator Ira Gershwin—that joined his already established songbook of national treasures: “They Can’t Take that Away from Me,” “They All Laughed,” and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” to name three.  “True music must repeat the thoughts and inspirations of the people and the time,” composer George Gershwin once remarked. “My people are Americans and my time is today.”

Here are ten Gershwin classics that graced the silver screen.

“But Not For Me”
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Judy Garland
Girl Crazy (1943)
The song, written for the 1930 stage show Girl Crazy, was introduced by Ginger Rogers.

Sample lyrics:
They're writing songs of love, but not for me
A lucky star's above, but not for me
With love to lead the way
I found more clouds of grey
Than any Russian play could guarantee

"Fascinatin' Rhythm"
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Danced by Eleanor Powell
Lady Be Good (1941), excerpted in That's Entertainment Part III (1993)
“Fashion on the River” is what Gershwin’s father initially thought the song was called. Written in 1924, the number was first performed onstage by Cliff Edwards, Fred and Adele Astaire in Lady Be Good.

Sample lyrics:
Fascinatin' rhythm, you've got me on the go
Fascinatin' rhythm, I'm all a-quiver
What a mess you're making, the neighbors want to know
Why I'm always shaking, just like a flivver

“How Long Has This Been Going On?”
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Audrey Hepburn
Funny Face (1957)
Composed for Funny Face in 1928, the tune was replaced by “He Loves and She Loves” and was introduced by Bobbe Arnst when it reappeared in the musical Rosalie that same year.

Sample lyrics:
Can I trust how I feel?
Is this my Achilles heel?
Look at me
I'm all at sea
How long has this been going on?

“I Got Rhythm”
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Judy Garland, Tommy Dorsey and cast
Girl Crazy (1943)
Originally written as a slow song for the 1928 musical Treasure Girl, the song was reworked for 1930’s Girl Crazy with the new, uptempo version introduced by Ethel Merman, who Gershwin advised to never take a singing lesson.

Sample lyrics:
Ol' Man Trouble
I don't mind him
You won't find him
'Round my door
I got starlight
I got sweet dreams
I got my man
Who could ask for anything more
Who could ask for anything more

“The Man I Love”
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Liza Minnelli
New York, New York (1977)
Originally titled “The Girl I Love,” the song was part of the score of the 1924 stage show Lady, Be Good. Deleted from that production, it was used again—and deleted again—from 1927’s Strike Up the Band and 1928’s Rosalie.

Sample lyrics:
He'll build a little home
Just meant for two
From which I'll never roam
Who would…would you?
And so all else above
I'm waiting for
The man I love

"Our Love is Here to Stay"
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Sung by Gene Kelly, danced by Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron
An American in Paris (1951)
Written for The Goldwyn Follies and introduced by Kenny Baker, the movie was released in 1938, a year after George Gershwin’s death, and the tune was the last composition he completed.

Sample lyrics:
In time the Rockies may crumble
Gibralter may tumble
There're only made of clay
But our love is here to stay

“’S Wonderful”
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn
Funny Face (1957)
Thirty years before Astaire had a whack at it onscreen, his sister Adele and Allen Kearns ushered the song into the world in the Broadway hit Funny Face. In 1951, Gene Kelly and Georges Guetary had their turn with it in An American in Paris; Doris Day put her distinctive spin on it that same year in Starlift.

Sample lyrics:
My dear, it's four-leaf clover time
From now on my heart's working overtime
Oh! S' wonderful!
'S marvelous!
That you should care for me

“Strike Up the Band”
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and cast
Strike Up the Band (1940)
The product of an unsuccessful 1927 stage musical, the instrumental version of the song was a hit. The lyrics eventually infiltrated American society, thanks in no small part to the 1940 movie musical with starring the enormously popular Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

Sample lyrics:
Let the drums roll out
Let the trumpet call
While the people shout
Strike up the band

“Summertime”
Lyrics by DuBose Heyward, music by George Gershwin
Diahann Carroll (dubbed by Loulie Jean Norman)
Porgy and Bess (1959)
“I think the music is so marvelous, I don’t believe I wrote it” said George Gershwin about Porgy and Bess. A highlight of his creation was a simple, laidback lullaby sung by Clara to her baby, a song that became one of the most recorded songs ever.

Sample lyrics:
Summertime
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high
Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry

“They Can’t Take That Away from Me”
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Fred Astaire
Shall We Dance (1937)
First heard in Shall We Dance, the song was a rare moment for Astaire and Rogers: a musical number without a dance routine to follow it.

Sample lyrics:
The way your smille just beams
The way you sing off key
They way you haunt my dreams
No, no, they can’t take that away from me