Lyr Req: Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love (Porter)

Subject: Lyr Req: Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love (C Porter)
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Jan 18 - 10:44 AM

This is one of those Cole Porter tunes with lengthy lyrics;
it is rare to encounter a recording with every last verse/chorus.

Mary Martin introduced this song, in the same show as the song "My Heart Belongs To Daddy"
but "Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love" is not so closely associated with Martin as the other song.
"Most Gentlemen" has been recorded by everybody from Sophie Tucker to Betty Carter.
There is a feature film with Cole Porter song performances which includes "Most Gentlemen;" it is a film I have never seen.

The verse, rarely sung, rhymes "romance a lot" with "Lancelot."

One of the choruses quotes the "gentleman" as saying
"I'm yours forever / And I'll part with you never."

Thanks everyone for your responses in advance.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love (Porter)
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Jan 18 - 03:50 PM

entirely out of order:


...
...so if your boy friend, some fine night, should say
He'll love you forever
And part from you never
Just push him out of the hay
Most gentlemen don't like love
I've been in love
So I know what I'm talking of
And, oh, to my woe I have found
They just like to kick it around

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love (Porter)
From: RunrigFan
Date: 13 Jan 18 - 06:04 PM

When mommy, in her sixteenth year,
Was dreaming of romance a lot,
She thought that she was Guinivere,
And every boy Sir Lancelot!

But now that mommy's more mature
And knows her way about,
She doesn't believe in "vive l'amour!",
For mommy's found out;

Most gentlemen don't like love,
They just like to kick it around.
Most gentlemen can't take love,
'Cause most gentlemen can't be profound.


As Madame Sapho in some sonnet said,
"A slap and a tickle
Is all that a fickle
Male ever had in his head!".


For most gentlemen don't like love;
I've been in love,
So I know what I'm talking of!
And oh, to my woe I have found
They just like to kick it around.

In every land, children, they're all the same;
A roll in the clover,
and when it's over,
"So long, and what's your name?".

Oh, just remember, when you get the chance,
A kiss in the corner
With old Jack Horner
Means, when he mentions romance;

That most gentlemen don't like love;
I've been in love,
So I know what I'm talking of!
And oh, to my woe I have found,
They just like to kick it around.

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/m/mostgentlemendontlikelove.shtml

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love (Porter)
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Jan 18 - 11:34 AM

still out of sequence:

...
So just remember when you get that glance
A romp and a quickie
Is all little Dickie
Means
When he mentions romance,
For most gentlemen don't like love, ... etc.


My source is online, I don't own the title:
The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter, Da Capo Press, 1983.
Books dot google only permits me to look as "snippets".

Subject: Lyr Add: MOST GENTLEMEN DON'T LIKE LOVE (Porter)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Jan 18 - 03:27 PM

You can hear this recording at YouTube:


MOST GENTLEMEN DON'T LIKE LOVE
Words and music by Cole Porter.
As recorded by Mary Martin, vocalist, with Eddie Duchin and His Orchestra in 1938.

Most gentlemen don't like love;
They just like to kick it around.
Most gentlemen can't take love,
'Cause most gentlemen can't be profound.
As Madame Sappho in some sonnet said:
A slap and a tickle
Is all that the fickle
Male ever had in his head,
For most gentlemen don't like love.
I've been in love,
And I know what I'm talking of,
And oh! to my woe I have found
They just like to kick it around.

In ev'ry land, children, they're all the same:
A romp in the clover,
And then when it's over,
"So long, and what is your name?"
Oh, most gentlemen don't like love.
I've been in love,
And I know what I'm talking of,
And oh! to my woe I have found
They just like to kick it around.

So just remember when you get that glance:
A kiss in the corner
Is all Jackie Horner
Means when he mentions romance,
For most gentlemen don't like love.
I've been in love,
And I know what I'm talking of,
And oh! to my woe I have found
They just like to kick it around.
They just like to kick it around.

[Introduced by Sophie Tucker in "Leave It to Me!" 1938.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love (Porter)
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Jan 18 - 04:06 PM

Thank the Mudcat for Jim Dixon.

He sets the record, and me, straight.
So Sophie Tucker AND Mary Martin were in the same Cole Porter musical;
one singer sang one song, the other singer sang the other song.
You can see that I had them confused.

Great to have a transcription of Mary Martin's recording.
Unless someone else beats me to it,
eventually I will get Betty Carter's version --
I heard her sing it live, on two different occasions;
she has live performances of the song at YouTube;
and she made one, if not more, studio recordings
of "Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love."

Betty Carter was an audience-oriented performer, and she loved
working that Cole Porter lyric to get laughs out of her audience.
Instead of saying "push him out of the hay,"
Betty Carter would pause;
the instrumental trio would come to a complete stop;
and into the dead air, she would say:

Now, ladies, it's YOUR turn:
KICK
HIM !!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love (Porter)
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Jan 18 - 01:20 PM

According to Volume 2 of
Stanley Richards's
Great Musicals of the American Theatre (1976),
the lyrics written by Cole Porter
for Sophie Tucker, in "Leave It To Me,"
had one or two tiny little differences from what we hear
from Mary Martin and all the rest of the interpreters.

(Verse)
When Mummy in her sixteenth year
Was dreaming of romance a lot,
She thought that she was Guinevere
And ev'ry boy Sir Launcelot,
But now that Mummy's more mature
And knows her way about,
She doesn't b'lieve in "Vive l'amour"
For Mummy's found out --

(1st Refrain)
Most gentlemen don't like love, they just like to kick it around,
Most gentlemen can't take love, 'cause most gentlemen ain't that profound.
As Madam Sappho in some sonnet said,
"A slap and a tickle
Is all that the fickle
Male
Ever has in his head,"
For most gentlemen don't like love.
I've been in love,
So I know what I'm talking of
And oh, to my woe, I have found
They just like to kick it around.

(2nd Refrain)
Most gentlemen don't like love, they just like to kick it around,
Most gentlemen can't take love, 'cause most gentlemen ain't that profound.
So just remember when you get that glance,
A romp and a quickie
Is all little Dickie
Means when he mentions romance.

(this is broken off)
Now if some fine day your boy friend should say
He loves you forever and part with you never
Just push 'em out of the hay -- way
'Cause most gentlemen don't like love
They just like to kick it around.

presumably under copyright to Cole Porter Music, Inc.,
under declaration of Trust, John F. Wharton as Trustee.
pages 21 - 22, "Leave It To Me," Great Musicals of the American Theatre, volume 2, Radnor, Pennsylvania: Chilton Book Co., 1976.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love (Porter)
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Jan 18 - 11:51 AM

I'm having a heck of time scaring up the refrain with
"a pounce in the clover."
it's somewhere in "Complete Lyrics"
but the snippet won't snip it at books dot google.
"Great Musicals" won't give it up either.
I really want to prove that Cole Porter wrote "pounce" rather than "roll" or "romp".

In the meantime, here's a quote from 1938 and some sort of roving reporter.

Quote:
Leave It To Me opens here tomorrow night. This is the final dress-rehearsal . . .
Mrs. Goodhue (Sophie Tucker) sings a lusty coon song to instruct her manifold daughters in courtly manners.
The burden of her message is that most gentlemen don't like love --
"A pounce in the clover And then when it's over So long, And what is your name."
You'll never hear it on the radio.
Endquote

--The Stage, volume 16, Theater Guild? 1938