Oh, So Nice!
"Oh, So Nice!" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
George Gershwin described the song as an effort "to get the effect of a Viennese waltz in foxtrot time" with Ira relating that the lyric took "days and days" to write due to its many internal rhymes. Ira felt the song was a "waltz effect in foxtrot" with "short and definite" musical phrases.[1]
The song was introduced by Gertrude Lawrence and Paul Frawley as the characters Ann Wainwright and Neil Forrester in the 1928 musical Treasure Girl, where it was featured as a duet in the first act.[1][2] It is sung when the characters encounter each other for the first time in the musical, the pair having formerly been lovers.[3] Lawrence Delbert Stewart, writing in The Gershwins: Words Upon Music, wrote that "Oh, So Nice!" was "so lovely...that one finds it difficult to believe that Miss Lawrence's role portrayed her as a malicious liar and a spoiled young woman".[1] Walter Rimler, in his A Gershwin Companion: A Critical Inventory & Discography describes the verse as "evocative and beautiful".[4] The New Yorker magazine described it as "effortlessly lovely" in 1959.[5] Howard Pollack felt the song was reminiscent of the Gershwin's earlier songs "Clap Yo' Hands" and "Let's Kiss and Make Up" through its attempt to capture a Viennese waltz in to a foxtrot tempo.[3] Pollock praised the song's "unprecedented suavity" with its "subtle metrical shifts throughout its main theme".[3] Pollock felt the melody of "Oh, So Nice!" was reminiscent of "Ohne mich" from Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.[3]
Edward Jablonski felt that it was one of the "outstanding songs" from Treasure Girl along with "I've Got a Crush on You", "I Don't Think I'll Fall in Love Today" and "Where's the Boy?".[6]
Notable recordings
- Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (Verve, 1959)
- Betty Comden (with pianist Richard Lewine) - Remember These: Songs from Treasure Girl and Chee-Chee (Ava, 1963)[7]
References
- ^ a b c Lawrence Delbert Stewart (1959). The Gershwins: Words Upon Music. Verve Records. p. 44.
- ^ Dan Dietz (10 April 2019). The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 491. ISBN 978-1-5381-1282-3.
- ^ a b c d Howard Pollack (15 January 2007). George Gershwin: His Life and Work. University of California Press. p. 426. ISBN 978-0-520-93314-9.
- ^ Walter Rimler (1991). A Gershwin Companion: A Critical Inventory & Discography, 1916-1984. Popular Culture, Ink. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-56075-019-2.
- ^ The New Yorker. 1959. p. 134.
- ^ Edward Jablonski (1962). George Gershwin. Putnam. p. 156.
- ^ Norbert Carnovale (2000). George Gershwin: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-313-26003-2.
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- Gershwin Plays Gershwin: The Piano Rolls
- An American in Paris
- Gershwin Piano Concerto
- Three Preludes
- Who Cares?
- Blue Monday (1922)
- Porgy and Bess (1935)
- Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
- Concerto in F (1925)
- An American in Paris (1928)
- Second Rhapsody (1931)
- Cuban Overture (1932)
- Strike Up the Band (1934)
- Hoctor's Ballet (1937)
- Three Preludes (1926)
- French Ballet Class (1937)
- "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?"
- "(I've Got) Beginner's Luck"
- "Bidin' My Time"
- "Blah Blah Blah"
- "Boy Wanted"
- "Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!"
- "But Not for Me"
- "By Strauss"
- "Clap Yo' Hands"
- "Do It Again"
- "Doin' Time"
- "Embraceable You"
- "Fascinating Rhythm"
- "A Foggy Day"
- "For You, For Me, For Evermore"
- "Funny Face"
- "'The Half of It, Dearie' Blues"
- "He Loves and She Loves"
- "How Long Has This Been Going On?"
- "I Can't Be Bothered Now"
- "I Got Rhythm"
- "I Was Doing All Right"
- "I've Got a Crush on You"
- "Isn't It a Pity?"
- "Just Another Rhumba"
- "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"
- "Let's Kiss and Make Up"
- "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)"
- "Looking for a Boy"
- "Lorelei"
- "Love Is Here to Stay"
- "Love Is Sweeping the Country"
- "Love Walked In"
- "The Man I Love"
- "My Cousin in Milwaukee"
- "My One and Only"
- "Nice Work If You Can Get It"
- "Of Thee I Sing"
- "Oh, Lady Be Good!"
- "Oh, So Nice!"
- "The Real American Folk Song (is a Rag)"
- "'S Wonderful"
- "Sam and Delilah"
- "Slap That Bass"
- "Somebody from Somewhere"
- "Somebody Loves Me"
- "Someone to Watch Over Me"
- "Soon"
- "Stairway to Paradise"
- "Stiff Upper Lip"
- "Strike Up the Band"
- "Summertime"
- "Swanee"
- "That Certain Feeling"
- "They All Laughed"
- "They Can't Take That Away from Me"
- "Things Are Looking Up"
- "Tra-la-la"
- "Treat Me Rough"
- "Walking the Dog"
- "Who Cares?"
- "You've Got What Gets Me"
- Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin
- By George
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book
- Ella Sings Gershwin
- Gershwin Live!
- Gershwin's World
- The Glory of Gershwin
- Ira, George and Joe
- Nice Work If You Can Get It
- Oscar Peterson Plays the George Gershwin Songbook
- Red Hot + Rhapsody: The Gershwin Groove
- Rosemary Clooney Sings the Lyrics of Ira Gershwin
- Gershwin Prize
- Ira Gershwin (brother)
- Arthur Gershwin (brother)
- Frances Gershwin (sister)
- Gershwin Theatre