They Didn't Believe Me
Encyclopedia
"They Didn't Believe Me" is a song with music by Jerome Kern
and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds
.
First introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah
it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway
debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre
on August 14, 1914. The show had originated in Britain, but impresario Charles Frohman
had felt it needed additional material to enliven its U.S. run. It became Kern's first major song success.
The song, with four beats to a bar, departed from the customary waltz
-rhythms of European influence and fitted the new American passion for modern dances such as the fox-trot. Kern was also able to use elements of American styles, such as ragtime, as well as syncopation, in his lively dance tunes. The song is also remarkable in its use of 'everyday' language in a love song. Theatre historian John Kenrick
writes that, until this point, the majority of love songs had relied on flowery vocabulary to express romantic sentiments. The song put Kern in great demand on Broadway and established a pattern for musical comedy love song
s that lasted through the 1960s.
"They Didn't Believe Me" became a standard, featured in the 1949 MGM musical That Midnight Kiss
where it was sung as a duet by Mario Lanza
and Kathryn Grayson
. The artists who have recorded it include Frank Sinatra
, Barbra Streisand
, Dinah Washington
, Jeanette MacDonald
, Charlie Parker
, Stan Kenton
, Bill Frisell
, Harry Belafonte
, Leontyne Price
and Marian McPartland
.
The timing of the song's arrival (the outbreak of World War I
) meant that it was one of many songs adapted by soldiers in the trenches- on this occasion an ironic take on the allegedly 'easy' life in the trenches. It is featured in that form (retitled "We'll Never Tell Them") at the end of Richard Attenborough
's 1969 film Oh! What a Lovely War
.
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds
Herbert Reynolds
Michael Elder Rourke , who assumed the pen name Herbert Reynolds in 1913, was an Irish-American lyricist.Reynolds wrote the lyrics to Jerome Kern's first big hit, "They Didn't Believe Me", interpolated into the 1914 American version of The Girl from Utah, produced by Charles Frohman...
.
First introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah
The Girl from Utah
The Girl from Utah is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with music by Paul Rubens, and Sidney Jones, a book by James T. Tanner, and lyrics by Adrian Ross, Percy Greenbank and Rubens. The story concerns an American girl who runs away to London to avoid becoming a wealthy Mormon's newest wife...
it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre
Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)
The Knickerbocker Theatre — previously known as Abbey's Theatre and Henry Abbey's Theatre — was a Broadway theatre located at 1396 Broadway in New York City. It operated from 1893 to 1930...
on August 14, 1914. The show had originated in Britain, but impresario Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
had felt it needed additional material to enliven its U.S. run. It became Kern's first major song success.
The song, with four beats to a bar, departed from the customary waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
-rhythms of European influence and fitted the new American passion for modern dances such as the fox-trot. Kern was also able to use elements of American styles, such as ragtime, as well as syncopation, in his lively dance tunes. The song is also remarkable in its use of 'everyday' language in a love song. Theatre historian John Kenrick
John Kenrick
John Kenrick was an English classical historian.-Life:He was born on 4 February 1788 at Exeter, the eldest son of Timothy Kenrick, Unitarian minister, and his first wife, Mary, daughter of John Waymouth of Exeter. He was educated at the local grammar school run by the Rev. Charles Lloyd and later...
writes that, until this point, the majority of love songs had relied on flowery vocabulary to express romantic sentiments. The song put Kern in great demand on Broadway and established a pattern for musical comedy love song
Love song
A love song is about falling in love and the feelings it brings. Anthologies of love songs often contain a mixture of both of these types of song. A bawdy song is both humorous and saucy, emphasizing the physical pleasure of love rather than the emotional joy...
s that lasted through the 1960s.
"They Didn't Believe Me" became a standard, featured in the 1949 MGM musical That Midnight Kiss
That Midnight Kiss
That Midnight Kiss was the screen debut of tenor Mario Lanza, also starring Kathryn Grayson, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Among the supporting cast were Ethel Barrymore, conductor/pianist Jose Iturbi , Keenan Wynn, J. Carroll Naish, and Jules Munshin...
where it was sung as a duet by Mario Lanza
Mario Lanza
right|thumb|[[MGM]] still, circa 1949Mario Lanza was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16....
and Kathryn Grayson
Kathryn Grayson
Kathryn Grayson was an American actress and operatic soprano singer.From the age of twelve, Grayson trained as an opera singer. She was under contract to MGM by the early 1940s, soon establishing a career principally through her work in musicals...
. The artists who have recorded it include Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
, Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
, Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
, Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price
Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...
and Marian McPartland
Marian McPartland
Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE is an English-born jazz pianist, composer, writer, and the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, NPR.-Early life:...
.
The timing of the song's arrival (the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
) meant that it was one of many songs adapted by soldiers in the trenches- on this occasion an ironic take on the allegedly 'easy' life in the trenches. It is featured in that form (retitled "We'll Never Tell Them") at the end of Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
's 1969 film Oh! What a Lovely War
Oh! What a Lovely War
Oh! What a Lovely War is a musical film based on the stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop created in 1963,...
.