I Don't Think I'll End It All Today

Jaime J. Weinman at Something Old, Nothing New is launching a new series focusing on Broadway & Hollywood lyricist E. Y. "Yip" Harburg with this post on "Cocoanut Sweet" from the 1957 Broadway musical Jamaica.

Harburg is, in my estimation, the best of the lyricists of the golden age of Broadway, or The American Songbook, or whatever you want to call it. Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart and Ira Gershwin are his closest peers, and of course Stephen Sondheim is the current untouchable master of lyric density and, when he chooses to express it, wit. I came to musical theater through Sondheim, and I'll always be a devotee; still, my heart belongs to Harburg.

So thanks, Jaime. Your post inspired me to break out my CD of Jamaica, actually my favorite Arlen Broadway score, and rip it. Can't say why I haven't ripped it before, but there you are.