ADD: They All Laughed (Gershwin)

Subject: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: Ringer
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 05:07 AM

It's ages since I visited this site. I hope that you will nevertheless treat my request with the civility, erudition and consideration that I remember. It's a request about a song, though not about "folk and roots" music.

George Gershwin's song, They All Laughed, begins
The odds were a hundred to one against me
The world thought the heights were too high to climb
But people from Missouri never incensed me
Oh, I wasn't a bit concerned
For from hist'ry I had learned
How many, many times the worm had turned...

My question is this: what is the significance of "people from Missouri never incensed me?"

Are Missourians renowned for provoking anger in those who come into contact with them, or what?

Thanks in anticipation.

Subject: RE: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: GUEST,John Bowden (not a typo!)
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 07:50 AM

It seems, from a bit of googling, that people form Missouri have a bit of a reputation for being sceptical, doubtful and not easily persuaded: Wikipedia says:

"There is no official state nickname.[21] However, Missouri's unofficial nickname is the "Show Me State", which appears on its license plates. This phrase has several origins. One is popularly ascribed to a speech by Congressman Willard Vandiver in 1899, who declared that "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me." This is in keeping with the saying "I'm from Missouri" which means "I'm skeptical of the matter and not easily convinced."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri#Nicknames

There's a similar reference in the song "You came a long way from St Louis' too, reflecting the same "I'm not as easily impressed as most people" attitude:

"You came here from the middle-west
And naturally impressed
The population hereabouts
Listen, baby; I got news for you
I'm from Missouri too
So, naturally, I got my doubts"

So Gershwin's lyric seems to be saying "I didn't let cynical people put me off loving you"

John

Subject: RE: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: cnd
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 09:56 AM

I've seen that explanation elsewhere, but it doesn't satisfy me, personally.

From the context, I think Gerswhin is saying that the singer doesn't care about the opinion of people who haven't been anywhere or done anything, insinuating that Missourians are plain and boring, simple people.

At least, that's how I took it.

Subject: RE: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 12:17 PM

I've lived in Missouri since 1976, and I agree with the "Show me" interpretation. John Bowden has nailed it.

Subject: RE: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: GUEST,John Bowden (not a typo!)
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 03:34 PM

Thanks leeneia - as I'm from the UK I can't speak personally, and am grateful for comments from US Mudcatters who can agree or disagree with my suggestion!

Subject: RE: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: Ringer
Date: 21 Jun 20 - 04:13 AM

Thanks, John, cnd and leeneia.

Subject: RE: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Jun 20 - 10:11 AM

Nice recording of this one as a duet
by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

Subject: RE: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 05:18 AM

it amuses me that at least one person on the thread appears to be " from Missouri" in spirit if not in reality

Subject: RE: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: leeneia
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 01:41 PM

I think the problem is the word "but" in the line. It should be "AND people from Missouri never incensed me."

I also think the word "incensed" is weak. He means that people from Missouri never discouraged him. However, he needed something to rhyme with "against."

Subject: ADD: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 02:05 PM

THEY ALL LAUGHED
(George and Ira Gershwin)

The odds were a hundred to one against me
The world thought the heights were too high to climb
But people from Missouri never incensed me
Oh, I wasn't a bit concerned
For from history I had learned
How many, many times the worm had turned

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly

They told Marconi
Wireless was a phony
It's the same old cry

They laughed at me wanting you
Said I was reaching for the moon
But oh, you came through
Now they'll have to change their tune,

They all said we never could be happy
They laughed at us— and how!
But ho, ho, ho
Who's got the last laugh now

They all laughed at Rockefeller Center
Now they're fighting to get in
They all laughed at Whitney and his cotton gin
They all laughed at Fulton and his steamboat
Hershey and his chocolate bar

Ford and his Lizzie
Kept the laughers busy
That's how people are

They laughed at me wanting you
Said it would be Hello! Goodbye!
But oh, you came through
Now they're eating humble pie

They all said we'd never get together
Darling, let's take a bow
For ho, ho, ho
Who's got the last laugh now

[not in the movie]
They laughed at me wanting you
Said, it would be, hello, goodbye
But oh, you came through
Now they're eating humble pie

They all said we'd never get together
Darling, let's take a bow
For ho, ho, ho
Who's got the last laugh

Hee, hee, hee
Let's at the past laugh
Ha, ha, ha
Who's got the last laugh now

from https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858845102/



Corrected according to the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire performance from Shal We Dance? (1937) (Rogers does all the singing, Fred just dances):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49BDynDH9K8

Subject: RE: They All Laughed (Gershwin)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Mar 23 - 01:06 PM

Wikipedia says THEY ALL LAUGHED was introduced in the 1937 film “Shall We Dance?” You can see that scene on YouTube here. In the film, Ginger Rogers sings the entire song, and then she dances to the same tune with Fred Astaire, but Astaire never sings.

But that same year, Fred Astaire recorded the song with Johnny Green and His Orchestra, but Ginger Rogers doesn’t appear on the record. You can hear his recording at the Internet Archive here or here. (Those are two different Brunswick records with different catalog numbers but they were made from the same matrix.)

The Internet Archive also has 1937 recordings by Nat Brandwynne, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Nat Harris, Ozzie Nelson, and Red Nichols; and later recordings by George Shearing (1951) and Carmen Mcrae (1955).

The lyrics posted above correspond pretty closely to the way Rogers sings them in the film (except some words are unnecessarily repeated, and there is a coda she doesn’t sing) but Astaire sings them in a different order.