Songs About Singing

Howdy. This page is the result of a solicitation to the Gay and Lesbian Chorus Mailing List, asking people to send in whatever came to mind on the topic of "Songs about Singing."

Daniel MacKay wrote:

The Barbara Cook piece "Sing A Song With Me"
Mama Cass singing a bizarre piece called "Sing For Your Supper" which Chip Prince identified as from Rodgers & Hart's Boys From Syracuse. He says:
It was written for a ladies' trio and is very cute and actually campy, especially when done with girly-campy choreography. As such it would probably lend itself very well to all kinds of adaptations, including mens' groups in and out of drag!
I starts out cutesy and ultimately gets pretty jazzy, with some really fun licks which combine jabs at coloratura ideas with almost-scat singin. Worth a look, definitely.
I transcribed the lyrics from the Mama Cass version:
```
Sing for your supper, and you'll get breakfast,
Songbirds always eat, if their song is sweet to hear.

Sing for your luncheon and you'll get dinner, 
Dine with wine of choice,
If romance is in your voice.

I heard from a wise canary, 
Trillin' makes a fellow willin',
So, little swallow, swallow now!
Now is the time to: 

Sing for your supper and you'll get breakfast, 
Songbirds are not dumb, 
They never buy a crumb of bread, it is said.

So sing, and you'll be fed.
```

"Poppa's Blues" from Starlight Express is about singing blues;

Oh, first line of the blues, 
  is always sung, a second time. (harmonica break)
I said, the first line of the blues, 
  is always sung, a second time. (harmonica break)
So by the time you get to the third line, 
  you've had time to think of a rhyme.

Ain't no law that says,
  third line gotta be different at all.
I said, there ain't no law that says,
  third line gotta be different at all.
No, there ain't no law that says,
  third line gotta be different at all

Never borrow no mouth organ,
   not even from your best friend.
I said, never borrow no mouth organ,
   not even from your best friend.
'cuase you may survive the blowin',
   but the suckin's gonna get you, in the end.

Thanks to the team who contributed to the page:

Tony Adam wrote:

"Singing in the Rain"
"Sing Me a Song of Social Significance" from Pins And Needles, by Harold Rome (I think)

"Song Song Blue," the Neil Diamond hit

Song, song blue, everybody knows one,
Song, song blue, every garden grows one...

"I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart"
The Carpenters' "Sing"

John-Michael Albert wrote:

"How Can I Keep from Singing," a folk song that recently reappeared on an Enya album
"His Eye Is On The Sparrow," a spiritual, first line "I sing because I'm happy" (Sung by Ethyl Waters in Member of the Wedding)
"Sing / Sing a Song / Sing it loud / Sing it long / Sing of good things - not bad / Sing of happy - not sad" (recorded by Karen Carpenter and a bunch o' kids)
"Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," the "Negro National Anthem"
"An die Musik" by Schubert, so incredibly famous in Germany that many Germans think it's a folk song (sumptuously gorgeous), it is a love song to the 'holy art' of singing, "O holy art, I will thank you forever."
"We are a gentle angry people, And we are singing, singing for our lives" (Holly Near)

"Whistle A Happy Tune," from The King and I

Whenever I feel afraid
I hold my head erect
And whistle a happy tune
So no one will suspect
I'm afraid"

Jim Gall also suggested the Carpenters' "Sing, Sing A Song"

Frank Jackson wrote:

The Carpenters: Sing, Sing a Song
Barry Manilow: I Write the Songs

Bruce Salender wrote:

Here's a list of some of my favorites, with publisher info courtesy ASCAP database.

SINGIN IN THE BATHTUB Writer(s): WASHINGTON NED MAGIDSON HERBERT CLEARY MICHAEL H Publisher(s): WITMARK M & SONS
I HAVE A SONG TO SING, from YEOMEN OF THE GUARD Writer(s): CONSTANTINIDES DINOS GILBERT WILLIAM SULLIVAN ARTHUR
I GOTTA RIGHT TO SING THE BLUES Writer(s): ARLEN HAROLD KOEHLER TED Publisher(s): HARMS INC.
IF YOU FEEL LIKE SINGING, SING! Writer(s): WARREN HARRY GORDON MACK Publisher(s): FOUR JAYS MUSIC CO
WITH A SONG IN MY HEART Writer(s): HART LORENZ RODGERS RICHARD Publisher(s): WILLIAMSON MUSIC CO HARMS INC
WITHOUT A SONG Writer(s): ROSE BILLY ELISCU EDWARD YOUMANS VINCENT Publisher(s): THE SONGWRITERS GUILD WB MUSIC CORP ANNE-RACHEL MUSIC CORPORATION

JEH DTMC wrote:
We Sing Together, by Eric Lane Barnes commissioned for Detroit TOgether's 15th anniversary. He has done a rewrite but I prefer the original! TTBB

Kristan Burkert wrote: The Portland Lesbian Choir did a concert of music about music in 1994 called Soaring with the Muse. We recorded Dream of Tomorrow (all 3 parts), Gamelan and How Can I Keep from Singing on our CD Making Light. I can hunt up composer, etc. info. if anyone is interested.

Dream of Tomorrow (our 3-part commission: Wild Women, Processing, Dream of Tomorrow) - Bev Standish (Portland composer, not published - avail. from Portland Lesbian Choir)

Dragana - Elin Pelin, arr. Koutev, Bulgarian, unpublished

The First Day of Choir - Steven Quesnel, published

Lebanese Song - arr Noretta Koertge, traditional tune (N.K. is a member of Bloomington Women's Chorus - not published)

Music in My Mother's House - Stuart Stotts, arr J. David Moore (contact David for scores) (I think MUSE has recorded this?)

Be Like a Bird - unknown, Libanna arr. in songbook

How Can I Keep from Singing - traditional, unpublished score

Ray Coshow writes:
Well, I thought of a few this morning: (In very much no particular order)

I have a song to sing, Oh (Gilbert & Sullivan -- from Yeoman of the Guard (?))
A Wandering Minstrel, I (G&S again -- from The Mikado)
Do Re Mi (Rogers & Hammerstein -- Sound of Music)
Singing in the Rain (composer? definitive version -- from the film: Gene Kelly)
Sing (Sing a Song) The Carpenters
Sing God a Simple Song (Leonard Bernstein from "Mass")
Sing Out (Ann Hampton Callaway -- perf'd with Twin Cities GMC)
I'll sing in the Sunshine (composer, artist?)
Sing a Song of Sixpence ( " " )
Your Song (Elton John)
A Song for You (Leon Russell, The Carpenters)
This One's for You (Barry Manilow)
One Voice (Barry Manilow)
I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow (perf: Ray Stevens)
Do You Hear the People Sing? (From Les Miz, Boublil & Schoenberg)
What do the Simple Folk Do? (From Camelot, Lerner & Loewe)
I'm Just a Singer in a Rock & Roll Band (The Moody Blues)
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Sad Songs (say so much) E. John
Love Song (From Pippin, S. Schwartz)
Sing if you're glad to be gay (Tom Robinson)
Rock-a-bye my Baby with a Dixie Melody (perf: J. Garland version of course)
Side by side (you know "traveling along, singing a song, side by ... )
The Night they Drove Ol' Dixie Down (and all the boys were singing...) J. Baez
American Pie (Don McLean)
A Singer Must Die (Leonard Cohen, but we prefer Jenny's version...)
(I could never really) Sing (From A Chorus Line -- M. Hamlish)
(Well this is) One of those songs (composer, artist??)
Make your own kind of music (more Mama Cass)
I'd like to teach the world to sing (a Coca Cola commercial that went top-40)

Tim Butz named:

Sing, Sing A Song by The Carpenters

Mama Cass' Make Your Own Kind Of Music

Make your own kind of music
Sing your own kind of song
Make your own kind of music
Even if nobody else sings along.

Dennis W. Rosenbaum wrote:

Singing with You by Holly Near
I Shall Sing by Art Garfunkel
Sing a Song by Earth, Wind, and Fire
Song Sung Blue, Neil Diamond
Songbird, Barbra Streisand
Love Song, Anne Murray
Sing Unto God, George Frederick Handel

Mark Elliott writes:

I'm Gonna Sing When The Spirit Says Sing (negro spiritual, fun,easy, can be found in any music catalog. Did it in my highschool chorus. (Chester Hairston arrangement????)
Sing! From A Chorus Line (Just a thought!)
Brothers Sing On, Edvard Greig, arr. Howard McKinney published by J. Fisher & Brother
Sing Me A Song Of A Lad That is Gone, words by Robert Louis Stevenson, CPP Belwin Inc. publishers (sv9003)
Sing Out With Joy, Alfred Choral Series (2 part...very easy)
HOLIDAY
Sing We Noel (traditional)
Sing a Joyfull Song Simms Hal Leonard
Songs My Grossmama Sang... don't know anything about it
Welcome Sing Be Merry Dean x Johnson (Yelton-Rhodes)

Philip Paroian writes:

As mentioned, there's "Sing For Your Supper" from the 1938 Rodgers & Hart Boys From Syracuse. An exceptionally good CD of this score was just released: the recording of the Encores! concert in NY last year with Rebecca Luker and Debbie Shapiro Gravitte.
Two of my favourite songs about singing are "I Can Sing" and "Daughter of God" (the latter by Ashman & Menken, of Disney fame) on the Alix Korey CD Songs You Might Have Missed. "I Can Sing" is also on the Alison Jiear CD Simply and "Daughter of God" is also on Debbie Shapiro Gravitte's Menken album. Both the Jiear and the Shapiro recordings are better CD's overall, but I still prefer Alix Korey's version of these two particular songs.
Barbara Cook has recorded a whole raft of songs about singing. She seems to have at least one on every album, including "Sing A Song With Me/Let Me Sing & I'm Happy" (on both the Live From London and the As of Today CD's). Then there's the title song from "It's Better With A Band", a CD that also includes "I Love A Piano", "Chant La Vie/Sing A Song With Me" and Leonard Bernstein's "Simple Song" from Mass. On her Disney album, there's "With A Smile & A Song" from Snow White. On her Oscar Winners recording, there's the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic "It's A Grand Night for Singing" (originally from State Fair; there are many, many other recordings of this song too).
Switching over to some male divas, a personal fav of mine is the Harry Chapin song "Mr. Tanner" (about the joys of an "amateur" singer) on the David Campbell Yesterday Is Now CD. (BTW, David Campbell's second CD, Taking The Wheel is even better though it doesn't contain any songs about singing).
There's also Brent Barrett performing "If I Sing" on the Maltby/Shire review Closer Than Ever. This song is also on the Karen Akers CD Unchained Melody.
"Let Me Sing and I'm Happy" was recorded by Sam Harris on his Standard Time CD, which also has the Harold Arlen classic "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues", though I always associate that with Ella Fitzgerald (it's on her Harold Arlen Songbook Vol 2).
British singer-songwriter Glyn Kerslake has "Don't Play That Song Again" on his charming Don't Judge An Album By It's Cover CD.
There's the Rodgers & Hart classic "Johnny One Note" from Babes In Arms. Many recordings of this are available. The one on Kim Criswell's CD The Lorelei is quite good. (And of course, once you're familiar with the original you must hear the Liza Minnelli spoof on Forbidden Broadway 2 "Liza One Note"!)
Another Rodgers & Hart classic is "With A Song In My Heart" included on Mary Cleere Haran's R&Hart CD as well as many other recordings. And there's "I Feel A Song Coming On" by McHugh/Fields.
Much early Kern has reference to song. For instance, there's "Don't Ask Me Not to Sing", performed by Andrea Marcovicci on her Just Kern CD.
There's a Broadway Cares benefit album Incurably Romantic that has three tracks - "Sing Me Pretty", "I Love Music", and "There's Always One More Song To Sing".
On singing and performing in general, "You There In The Back Row" is the opening number on Liz Callaway's CD The Story Goes On.

Mary Lycan writes:
For womens' chorus, there is always Dame Ethel Smyth's battle anthem for the British women's suffrage movement, The March of the Women. It begins, "Shout! shout! up with your song! Cry with the wind, for the dawn is breaking." I publish it; catalogue number TC-101. SSA and a very tub-thumping pinao. My chorus loves it.

Don Small writes:
Please, don't forget "Brothers; Sing On" - I think it's by Edvard Greig. A hoary old fanfare from classicalmen's glee club rep; we performed it in Boston to great effect a couple of years ago; I first encountered it singing with a community glee club in high school.

Cobra Woman wrote:
"Can't Help Singing" Broadway tune by Jerome Kern

BigT24032@aol.com wrote: "I'm Gonna Sing 'Til The Spirit Moves in My Heart" by Moses Hogan "With Cheerful Notes" by Handel

Mail me some more ideas!
Last updated March 1^st '00