So many of Porter’s songs have “Love” in the title that the listener has to be careful to distinguish between them. “I am in Love” debuted in “Can-Can” (1953), a show about Paris set in the 1890s, a time remembered for artists, music, dance and most of all, love.
Dale Harris wrote about Porter in the NY Times, Dec, 1973 (“Cole Porter, His Songs Defined a Decade”) that “ in his music Porter showed himself to be wise to the ways of life, cagey, self‐protective, something of an aristocrat in preferring restraint to the open display of passion.” As I mused over the lyrics to “I am in Love” and listened to a number of artists sing them, I couldn’t help but feel that there is more “passion” expressed in them than in many Porter songs.
“Such conflicting questions ride Around in my brain, Should I order cyanide Or order Champagne? Oh, what is this sudden jolt? I feel like a frighten’d colt Just hit by a thunderbolt, I am in love!” “So come and enlighten my days And never depart. You only can brighten the blaze That burns in my heart, For I am wildly in love with you, and so in need of a stampede of love”
It’s hard to believe that I have been posting these write-ups about Cole Porter’s best songs for three years without showcasing the inimitable voice of Nat King Cole.
Here are two versions of “I am in love” presented by Nat Cole and Vic Damone, “one of the best sets of pipes in the business”, a comment about Vic Damone attributed to Frank Sinatra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1dj5sy6-_s (Nat Cole)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozdGFmRrv5g (Vic Damone)
