The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #17039   Message #3672669
Posted By: Joe Offer
28-Oct-14 - 03:05 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Hey Good Lookin' (Hank Williams)
Subject: ADD: Hey Good Lookin' (Cole Porter) [!!!]
Most sources I checked, say that Hank Williams, Sr., wrote the lyrics and melody in 1951, but the soon-to-come Rise Again songbook says Hank Williams adapted the song from one by Cole Porter. Incredulous, I went lookin'. Here's what I found:

HEY, GOOD-LOOKIN'
(Cole Porter)

VERSE 1

BLOSSOM:
When there's a sun above,
I always find
Romantic thoughts of love
Never enter my mind,
But when the day is done
I find that instead
I just love ev'ryone,
And as Elizabeth Barrett Browning once said:

REFRAIN I
Hey, good-lookin',
Say, what's cookin'?
Do you feel like bookin'
Some fun tonight?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, good-lookin',
If you're not already tooken,
Could you meet me soon,
In the moonlight?
Why don't we two go roamin'
Through the gloamin'
While the stars are combin'
The skies above?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, good-lookin',
Give in and we'll begin cookin'
That delish
Little dish
Called love.

VERSE 2
ROCKY:
Your voice, Miss Ovaltine,
Has me impressed,
You're the missing link between
Lily Pons and Mae West.
But I must warn you, ma'm,
If later you're free,
That I'm half wolf, my lamb,
And as the famous Tallulah muttered to me:

REFRAIN 2
Hey, good'lookin',
Say, what's cookin'?
Do you feel like bookin'
Some fun tonight?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, good-lookin',
If you're not already tooken,
Could you meet me soon,
In the moonlight?
Why don't we two go roamin'
Through the gloamin'
While the stars are combin'
The skies above?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, good'lookin',
Give in and we'll begin cookin'
That delicious,
That surprising,
That divine,
That so appetizing,
That delightful
Itty-bitty-bite-full
Called love.


Notes: Published December 1942. Introduced by Ethel Merman and Bill Johnson. The following notation appears in "Titles and Ideas": "Hollywood, Cal., March 4, 1942, 'Hey, Good-Looking, Say, What's Cooking.'

This is from the 1943 Broadway musical, Something for the Boys, starring Ethel Merman.


Source: The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter, by Robert Kimball, 1983 (page 230)

I wonder what the melody sounds like....here 'tis: Ethel Merman: