"NIGHT AND DAY" (1932)

"Night and Day" saved the day for the Broadway musical in which it debuted, Gay Divorce. Critics gave the show mediocre reviews when it opened in November of 1932, but thanks to the immediate popularity of the song, the show was a success and ran for 248 performances; it became known as the "Night and Day" show. "Night and Day" appeared again in the 1934 RKO film, The Gay Divorcée. While much of the Broadway show’s original plot was retained, "Night and Day" was the only song retained from Porter’s score. The title of the film had to be changed from Gay Divorce to The Gay Divorcée because the Production Code, the censorship guidelines used by the motion picture industry, did not condone describing divorce as a happy event, although presumably it was acceptable for a divorcée to be happy. In the 1920s and 1930s, the use of the term "divorce" constituted sexual sophistication and a Broadway frolic with divorce as its subject was intentionally risqué, acceptable on the stage but not in Hollywood.
Fred Astaire starred as the leading man in the Broadway musical, in which he sang "Night and Day," and his 1932 recording of the song with the Leo Reisman Orchestra held the number one position on the pop charts for 10 weeks. The show was Astaire’s first appearance as a solo leading man, but it was his last appearance on Broadway. He went on to star in and sing "Night and Day" in The Gay Divorcée, the second film in which he was paired with Ginger Rodgers (Flying Down to Rio was their first film). Porter had tailored "Night and Day" for Astaire’s voice and style, and Will Friedwald, in his book Stardust Melodies in which he provides a comprehensive history of the song, describes the song’s importance to Astaire. "The song "Night and Day" thus can be said to be a doubly major song in the Astaire career: in Gay Divorce it was the tune that allowed him to establish himself as a solo artist – rather than half of a brother-and-sister act – and in The Gay Divorcée this same song "consummated," as it were, the union of Fred and Ginger. "Night and Day" also established a particular pattern in the series: the dance of seduction. He’s already in love with her and wants to dance; she wants nothing more than to get away, but gradually the combination of the beat, the melody, and the man’s irresistible charm conspire to overpower her."
Porter attributed his inspiration for "Night and Day" to an Islamic chant he heard while traveling in the Middle East in the 1920s. He may have written the chorus first in the late 1920s and the verse later. There is the oft-repeated story of how, while he was visiting Mrs. Astor’s Newport cottage on a rainy weekend when he was having difficulty finishing the song, he heard her complain about a dripping noise made by a broken drain pipe. She exclaimed, "I must have that eave mended. This drip-drip-drip is driving me mad!" Purportedly, on hearing that Porter rushed to the Astors’ piano and finished the song immediately. "Night and Day" is a long song, with a 16-bar verse and 48-bar chorus, and is characterized by repetition and strong rhythm. The verse essentially is composed of two notes, G and A, and the chorus, while more melodic, still uses lots of repeated notes. Jeremy Wilson at www.jazzstandards.com says, "The effect of all the repetition is the flattening of the melody, which transfers the emphasis to the harmonies and the Latin beat, all bonuses for a dancer like Astaire and jazz improvisationalists."
The repetition served another, darker effect. Although some may consider it a romantic ballad, "Night and Day" actually is a song of obsessive love and Will Friedwald describes how Porter used repetition to convey this emotional state. "In a Cole Porter song, repetition is a musical concept that ties into the emotional concept of obsession. In fact, most of Porter’s "serious" love songs are about obsession: "I’ve Got You Under My Skin," "I Concentrate on You," – they’re all about how the speaker-protagonist is completely obsessed with the object of his/her affection, he/she can’t get her/him out of his/her mind no matter what he/she does… Night and day I think of you, no matter what I do, I can’t stop thinking about you. Porter pushes emotions as far as they’ll go, sometimes even over the edge; were the first-person speaker of any of these three songs to take things much further, the object of this obsession might have to go to court to file for a restraining order."
Chosen as the title for Porter’s 1946 film biography, "Night and Day" may be Porter’s most famous song. However, as with so many musicians, his most popular creation began to plague him. William Hyland in his book The Song Has Ended said, "Porter later cursed "Night and Day." It haunted him wherever he went because every subsequent song was compared to it." But with its explicit passion, driving rhythm and unusual harmonic changes, "Night and Day" continues to be a favorite of instrumentalists and vocalists and is one of the most covered jazz standards. Recordings by the Eddy Duchin Orchestra, Charlie Barnet, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby reached the pop charts, and two of those, by Duchin and Sinatra, would make second appearances as reissues. Sinatra recorded the song many times and called it a "standard classic." Noted lyricist Alan Jay Lerner gave Porter the ultimate accolade, "Cole was the only composer and lyric writer in the entire musical world who ever knew how to write a passionate song. To this day, that’s the truth. Everybody else could – when we’re fortunate – write a tender song or a romantic song or a wistful song or a nostalgic song, but only Cole could write passion."