I lost track of this discussion after posting my message on 22 Jun, and so missed (until today) Piers Plowman's answer to my question/comment about those introductory "verses" to an entire genre of 20th-century popular songs.

I appreciate PP's scholarly approach to preservation of these oft-forgotten parts of songs, and am glad he makes every effort to find and perform them whenever he can. If I am about to "disagree" or take issue, please understand that it is not offered as personal criticism, only as an alternate viewpoint...

Piers wrote:

"This is a bit of a sore point with me, as someone who will sing verses, even though they are often somewhat banal. The verses were not meant to be cut and the songs were meant to be sung the way they were written."

I would submit that these songs were written as parts of musical plays, and that the "verses" in question were meant to provide transitions from conventional non-musical play-acting to singing-and-dancing musical numbers. Many of these "show tunes" became popular in their own right outside the context of the musical comedies for which they were written, and in this new setting, standing on their own, the songs do not always necessarily require the same kind of introduction.

Outside the context of the show, there is some question as to whether the "verse" is indeed part of the song at all, or whether it's part of the play, as the play moves from one form of expression to another. If these songs were arias in operas, where everything is sung, rather than set-pieces or "numbers" in musical plays, each introductory bit would probably not be considered an essential part of the aria, but rather part of the script or libretto leading up to it.

I'd say, include the verse in your performance if you feel it contributes to the overall feeling and meaning of the song, and/or when it is memorable/funny/touching in its own right, like that wonderful bit of self-parody you quote from Cole Porter's "De-Lovely."

On the other hand, if even you, champion of the forgotten verse, feel that a particular intro-verse to a particular song is "banal," mightn't you consider omitting it, at least in certain contexts for certain audiences? Or, at the very least, understand/forgive jazz artists for not including the verse along with the "body" of the songs as basis for their improvisation?

End (?) of thread drift...