Too Darn Hot

Question 1

Where is”Too Darn Hot” from?

Answer 1

Porter’s musical Kiss Me, Kate (1949) , based on Shakespeares the Taming of The Shrew, it is one of Porters most successful musicals. “Too Darn Hot” is the opening number of Act II, sung by a male character Paul. In the 1953 movie the song was allocated to a female character, sung and danced by Anne Miller

Question 2

What was this song in reference to?

Answer 2

Cole Porters risqué lyrics take advantage of the sensational item of contemporary news: The “Kinsey Report” referring to the controversial study of male sexual behaviour by the biologist Alfred Kinsey, published in 1948

Question 3

Was the song censored?

Answer 3

For the movie, many of the lyrics in the show were toned down to avoid being censored, and in this song the reference to Kinsey was omitted

Question 4

What is the structure? - Ella Fitzgerald

Answer 4

C minor
The irregular pattern of 20 bars is made up of 2 melodic ideas:
- x - the descending minimum figure, “it’s too darn hot”
- y - the syncopated figure, with its descending 4th anacrusis “I’d like to sup with my baby tonight”
The first 12 bars are divided into a neat “xyy” pattern of three 4 bar phrases
The remaining 8 bars extend the Verse in a breathless ascending sequence of the “y” motif, now shortened to 2 bar units
The change to C major (the tonic major) brightens up the mood to match the playfullness of the words
In these 8 bars the harmonic movement is faster. It returns to C minor for the “x” motif , “cause it’s too darn hot”

Question 5

Harmony

Answer 5

Use of secondary dominance and simple tonic to dominant, easy for interpretation

Question 6

What is the bridge like?

Answer 6

More regular, 16 bars of 4 bar phrases, repetitions of “It’s too darn hot”