SO IN LOVE from KISS ME KATE - COLE PORTER

My sole inspiration is a telephone call from a director.

-Cole Porter

Cole Porter wrote a myriad of love songs, none so beautiful as this one. Sinuous and delirious, it is almost entirely built upon one melodic motif – the semitone, and one rhythmic motif – da daaah daaah.  The high note of each phrase is one semitone higher than the last, so the effect is of mounting tension and passion.  It reaches it climax on the phrase “I’m yours ‘til I die!” and slinks down inevitably by semitones, insistently repeating the words “So in love”, so that, in the end, you have no choice but to believe the singer. It is truly the mark of a master craftsman and artist to be able to create so much with such simplicity.

The words in bold are the high note of each phrase. Listen how each climbs higher than the last.

Strange dear, but true dear, when I’m close to you dear,

The stars fill the sky. So in love with you am I

Even without you, my arms fold about you.

You know, darling, why.

So in love with you am I.

In love with the night mysterious,

The night when you first were there.

I love with my joy delirious when I knew that you could care.

So taunt me, and hurt me, deceive me, desert me.

I’m yours ‘til I die!

So in love, so in love, so in love with you, my love, am I.

I’m also including the first page of the song from the score. I’ve annotated  all the semitones in the melody and in the accompaniment with a shaky yellow line.

This is Shirley Verrett from a 1985 recital. I looked for ages for the marvelous Kathryn Grayson/Howard Keel recording from the movie, but it's nowhere to be found on youtube. Shirley's pretty awesome, though.