Cole Porter

USA, 1916–1958

American composer and lyricist (1891-1964), and one of the few who wrote both. Anything Goes and Kiss Me, Kate sit behind 'Night and Day' and 'I Get a Kick Out of You' — chromatic, minor-tinged tunes carrying lyrics of a wit nobody in the Broadway generation matched.

MusicRoots documents 3 artists who influenced Cole Porter and 1 artist Cole Porter influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Cole Porter?

• Gilbert and Sullivan — The comic opera Porter grew up on and never really left — patter, topsy-turvy plotting, and rhyme used as the punchline.
• Vincent d'Indy — Porter studied orchestration and counterpoint with d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum — the formal training behind songs that keep modulating where a popular song would not.
• Irving Berlin — Porter envied Berlin the Lower East Side apprenticeship he never had, and set out to copy it: the minor-key turn in 'Night and Day' and 'Begin the Beguine' is what he meant by writing 'little Jewish songs'.

Which artists did Cole Porter influence?

• Serge Gainsbourg — The songbook Gainsbourg's father played at home, and audible afterwards in his diction and in the chromatic turn of his tunes.