My Funny Valentine

1937 song by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

This article is about the song. For other uses, see My Funny Valentine (disambiguation).

"My Funny Valentine"

Song
Published| 1937 by Chappell & Co.
Genre| Traditional pop
Composer(s)| Richard Rodgers
Lyricist(s)| Lorenz Hart

"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart coming of age musical Babes in Arms in which it was introduced by teenaged star Mitzi Green. The song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 1300 albums performed by over 600 artists. One of them was Chet Baker,[1] for whom it became his signature song.[2][3] In 2015 the Gerry Mulligan quartet's 1953 version of the song (featuring Chet Baker) was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for its "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy".[4] Mulligan also recorded the song with his Concert Jazz Band in 1960.[5]

## History

[edit]

Babes in Arms opened at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway, in New York City on April 14, 1937 and ran for 289 performances.[6] In the original play, a character named Billie Smith (played by Mitzi Green) sings the song to Valentine "Val" LaMar (played by Ray Heatherton).[7] The character's name was changed to match the lyric of this song.[8]

In the song, Billie describes Valentine's characteristics in unflattering and derogatory terms (at one point Billie describes Valentine's looks as "laughable", in keeping with the title), but ultimately affirms that he makes her smile and that she does not want him to change. The description of Valentine was consistent with Lorenz Hart's own insecurities and belief that he was too short and ugly to be loved.[9] The lyrics are sufficiently gender-neutral to allow the song to be sung about a person of any gender, and a large proportion of cover versions of the song have been by men describing a hypothetical woman.

### Chart versions and covers

[edit]

The song first hit the charts in 1945, performed by Hal McIntyre with vocals by Ruth Gaylor.[10] It only appeared for one week and hit No. 16.[11] Frank Sinatra recorded a hit version in 1955.

In addition to Chet Baker's 1954 recording, the song has also been covered by Elvis Costello, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Steve Goodman, Rickie Lee Jones, Julie London, Harpo Marx, Gerry Mulligan, and Josipa Lisac, amongst others.[12][13][4][14]

## In popular culture

[edit]

The Chet Baker and the Julie London versions of the song were credited in the 1981 film Sharky's Machine, which Burt Reynolds starred in and directed. Doc Severinsen produced the soundtrack for the film,[13] along with Al Capps and Bob Florence.[15]

In the anime series Cowboy Bebop, the episode titled "My Funny Valentine" takes its name from Miles Davis' famous recording of the song. The episode focuses on the character Faye Valentine, exploring her mysterious past and themes of memory, identity, and loss, drawing a subtle parallel to the emotional depth of the song itself. This connection showcases the series' frequent use of jazz music and cultural references to enhance its narrative atmosphere.

In the popular manga title Steel Ball Run, the main antagonist Funny Valentine is named in reference to this song.[16]

The song inspired Ettore Sottsass in his choice of a name for the Olivetti Valentine typewriter.[17][18]

Salman Rushdie, the author of the novel The Satanic Verses, was receiving a letter from the Iranian government every February 14 since 1990.[19] According to Rushdie, the message is intended to remind him of the Fatwa (Muslim legal ruling) issued on February 14, 1989 by the Muslim cleric and then-ruler of Iran Ruhollah Khomeini calling for the murder of Rushdie over content in The Satanic Verses that Khomeini claimed insulted Islam.[20] By 1999, Rushdie no longer feared the annual death threat or took it seriously and in an article he wrote for The New Yorker that year, Rushdie jokingly called the letter "My Unfunny Valentine" (which was also the title of the article) as a pun of My Funny Valentine and the fact that February 14 (the date he receives on) is also Valentine's Day, even comparing the letter to a "sort of Valentine's card".[21]

## See also

[edit]

* List of 1930s jazz standards

## References

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1. ^ "Jazz Standards Songs and Instrumentals (My Funny Valentine)".
2. ^ Schwanebeck, Wieland; McFarland, Douglas (8 October 2018). Patricia Highsmith on Screen. Springer. ISBN 9783319960500.
3. ^ "My Funny Valentine". Jazz Messengers.
4. ^ a b Wallace, Steve (2020-01-30). "My (Not So) Funny Valentine: A Brief History". The WholeNote. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
5. ^ "National Recording Registry To "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive"". The Library of Congress. 25 March 2015. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
6. ^ Trager, James (2005). The People's Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record of Human Events from Prehistory to the Present (3 ed.). Detroit: Gale. ISBN 0805031340.
7. ^ Playbill from 1937 Babes in Arms theatrical performance.
8. ^ Rodgers, Richard (1975) Musical Stages: an autobiography. New York: Random House, page 181
9. ^ Holden, Stephen."Television Review: Thou Rodgers, Thou Hart, So Fizzy, So Smart", The New York Times, January 6, 1999.
10. ^ Orodenker, M. H. (1945-01-27). "Popular Record Reviews". Billboard. Vol. 27, no. 4\. ISSN 0006-2510.
11. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1992). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954: The History of American Popular Music. Record Research, Inc. ISBN 0-89820-083-0. As cited in My Funny Valentine (1937), written, compiled, and published by jazzstandards.com.
12. ^ Zollo, Paul (2021-02-15). "Seven Favorite Covers of "My Funny Valentine"". American Songwriter. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
13. ^ a b "Sharky's Machine (1981)". B&S About Movies. July 9, 2021. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
14. ^ Janjatović, Petar (2024). Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960–2023. Belgrade: self-released / Makart. p. 178.
15. ^ "Sharky's Machine (1981) Full Cast & Crew". IMDB. 2023. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
16. ^ "Funny Valentine". 14 February 2024.
17. ^ "Perché Valentine è l'oggetto di design assoluto". Rivista Studio (in Italian). 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
18. ^ "1969, odissea nel design: così Olivetti inventò la tecnologia che ha stile". La Stampa (in Italian). 6 December 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
19. ^ http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/02/15/my-unfunny-valentine
20. ^ http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/02/15/my-unfunny-valentine
21. ^ http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/02/15/my-unfunny-valentine

## Further reading

[edit]

* Bragalini, Luca (1997). "My Funny Valentine: The Disintegration of the Standard". Originally published in Musica Jazz.
* Cook, Richard (1999-02-12). "The Hart of the Matter". New Statesman. Vol. 128, no. 4423\. p. 45\. ISSN 1364-7431.
* Fox, Dan (2007). World's Greatest Wedding Music: 50 of the Most Requested Wedding Pieces. Alfred Music Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7390-4674-6.
* Friedwald, Will (2002). "My Funny Valentine (1937)". Stardust Memories: The Biography of Twelve of America's Most Popular Songs. New York: Random House. pp. 348–373. ISBN 0-375-42089-4.
* Gabbard, Krin (2004). Black Magic: White Hollywood and African American Culture. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-3384-8.
* Hischak, Thomas S. (2007). The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press. p. 189\. ISBN 978-0-313-34140-3.
* Studwell, William Emmett (1994). The Popular Song Reader: A Sampler of Well-Known Twentieth Century-Songs. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 1-56024-369-4.

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