Talk:Puttin' on the Ritz

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Contents 1 Covers 2 Falco 3 Other 4 Number of appearances at the top of the chart 5 Original lyrics

[edit] Covers

I think that it would be worthwhile to add a section commenting on the covers of this song by various artists throughout time, of which there have been many. Frank Sinatra and They Might Be Giants are two examples...there are more, i am certain.

The one that people alledge is by They Might Be Giants is, in fact, not. That version of the song is by Taco Ockerse, which the article already mentions. Tell your friends.

TMBG did a cover of Istanbul (Not Constantinople) which was originally based on the music in Puttin' on the Ritz.

[edit] Falco

Falco also had big success with this song. He shold be named in the article!

[edit] Other

I rather disagree with User:ShaunMacPherson's edit with the comment "people do not know/ care?/remember who origionally did it, their experience with this song is from the more recent versions". My thoughts are that since this is an encyclopedia (or aspires to be one), it is aimed at informing those who wish to find out such things. Furthermore, I don't necessarily agree that everyone will necessarily encounter first/only the "more recent" (you mean the 1982 one?) versions; they may first hear the number on some film they see on television, which could date anywhere from the 1930s to the 1970s. I tend to prefer to have information in chronological order unless there is a pressing reason not to. Cheers, -- Infrogmation 16:50, 23 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I don't know how you would phrase this so that it wasn't POV, but the original lyrics to this song weren't about white people going to black jazz clubs, they were mocking black servants who dressed up in fancy clothes and acted like rich white people on their nights off. The lyric is full of racial epithets (ie "lulubelles") and the basic gist is that it's fun to go to Harlem and watch black people getting dressed up and spending all their money. It's blatantly racist.

[edit] Number of appearances at the top of the chart

I've heard time-and-again, especially on Casey Kasem's radio show, that Berlin had a hit in at least 5 decades with this song. If it can be verified, then that should be mentioned in the article. Jimcripps 03:06, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Original lyrics

The assertion that the original lyrics referred to whites visiting African-American jazz clubs is incorrect. The original lyrics were actually quite racist, and underwent revision fairly early. In the first version of the song, mention is made, for example, that "every Lulu Belle" goes out Thursday evenings. Thursday evening, of course, was the traditional maids' night off:

Have you seen the well-to-do
Up on Lenox Avenue
On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air

High hats and arrow collars
White spats and lots of dollars
Spending ev'ry dime
For a wonderful time

If you're blue and
You don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where Harlem sits
Puttin' on the Ritz

Spangled gowns upon the bevee of high browns
From down the levee
All misfits
Puttin' on the Ritz

That's where each and ev'ry Lulu-Belle goes
Ev'ry Thursday evening with her swell beaus
Rubbing elbows

Come with me and we'll attend
The jubilee, and see them spend
Their last two bits
Puttin' on the Ritz

Lenox Avenue - A main thoroughfare in Harlem.
High browns - A variation of the phrase "high yellow", referring to those of mixed racial background, usually with the inference that they are putting on airs beyond their social station.
Lulu-Belle - A generic nickname for a black maid.
Ev'ry Thursday evening - Typically, the maid's night off.
Two bits - a quarter (25 cents)

See http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/p/puttinontheritz.shtml

Partly right, but somewhat off on your initial assertion. The lyrics indeed show the racist attitudes common in mainstream culture at the time. "Quite racist" depends on what standard you're using; taking these historic lyrics to today, certainly-- but they are not particularly racist for the era (in the 1920s mainstream pop music still had many examples of songs with such stereotyped descriptions as "shuffling darkies" and worse). "High brown" is/was a term for a light brown skinned African-American with no comment on "putting on airs". The song absolutely refers to the then current fashion of whites visiting the black clubs of Harlem. Note the line "Come with me, and we'll attend their jubilee"-- the speaker ("me") and the audience who the speaker is adressing ("we") are implied to be white, and the "they" are the Harlem blacks detailed in the song whose "jubilee" the whites attend for their own amusement. Listen to period recordings of the tune or see the early sound film use to confirm this nuance. -- Infrogmation 14:17, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

This is not the view taken by some specialist writers on this era. For example, John Mueller writing in Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films notes (p.267) "In the original version it told of the ritzy airs of Harlemites parading up and down Lenox Avenue. For the 1946 film, the strutters became well-to-do whites on Park Avenue. The patronizing, yet admiring satire of the song is shifted, then, and mellowed in the process. The change may have had to do with changing attitudes towards race and with Hollywood's dawning wariness about offending blacks." The article has been altered accordingly Dermot 19:16, 1 March 2007 (UTC)