poster design for By Jupiter by Rodgers and Hart

Making An Album | The Songs | The One That Got Away – Nobody’s Heart

When I was making an album, Nobody’s Heart was the one that got away. You can download this song for free!

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The song is by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart and when I asked David Newton if there were any songs he’d particularly like to record, this was one of the ones he suggested. I was very happy to learn it, as I knew the Doris Day and Andre Previn version, from their wonderful 1962 album called Duet.

In late 1961 they met for the first time and found, according to liner notes, that they shared a love for “sodas, animals, and ballads.” The result was an intimate, stripped-back version of songs – a sharp contrast to the lush Hollywood arrangements which Doris is usually associated with. Two years before, Previn had made a similar record with Dinah Shore, called Dinah Sings Previn Plays/Somebody Loves Me, so he was the obvious choice for such a project.

The song comes from a musical called By Jupiter, which opened on Broadway at the Schubert Theatre in June,1942. It was the most successful of the shows written by Rogers and Hart, as it ran for 427 performances. It was also the last show they wrote together, as Lorenz Hart died in 1943. He was only 48 and succumbed to pneumonia after a long period of heavy drinking and depression. He died only a few months after By Jupiter had finished its Broadway run. After his death, Richard Rogers went on to form another successful writing partnership with Oscar Hammerstein.

David wanted to try the song, as he had written an arrangement incorporating the theme from the original music he wrote for a play. He had previously worked as a music writer for the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, the home of playwright Alan Ayckbourn. ( I’ve being trying to get Dave to do some guest blogging about that show but as yet he’s being a bit bashful – I’ll update you if I can persuade him to spills the beans).

Here’s a bit of his piano solo to tempt you:

In our version you can hear that theme woven into the original song. I really like the recording, but when we had to lose five songs from the original eighteen, I decided not to use Nobody’s Heart for purely lyrical reasons. It just so happened that most of the songs were out and out love songs and Nobody’s Heart is a bit more nonchalant. The lyrics include ‘nobody’s heart belongs to me” and “nobody writes his songs for me” and proclaims “Who Cares?” implying, in my opinion, “not I!”

It didn’t seem to fit with the feeling of the album which is a celebration of love. As it seemed a shame to bury the recording forever in the Cairncross vaults, we hit upon the idea of giving it away as a free MP3 download to anybody who joined my VIP Mailing List. This is actually my birthday message, so instead of getting one, I’m giving you a gift!

It’s easy – just click on this link and enter your Name and email address. You then receive an email where you just have to click the link to confirm your interest.

So why not get your free copy of Nobody’s Heart HERE. Hope you enjoy it – Happy Birthday!