... & further re Richard Rodgers, the songs he wrote with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, before he teamed up with Hammerstein after Hart's death, are well worth considering. Are there many songs better than "Lady is a Tramp"? And Hammerstein had plenty of fine form to cite, from his earlier collaboration with Kern on Show Boat, for instance. Ole Man River not too PC these days perhaps; but Paul Robeson sang it without demur, it would seem.


≈M≈