Mad About the Boy

"Mad About the Boy" Introduced in the 1932 revue Words and Music
Written by	Noël Coward
Published	1932
Language	English
Original artist	Joyce Barbour Steffi Duna Norah Howard Doris Hare
Recorded by	Noël Coward with orchestra conducted by Ray Noble Phyllis Robins with Jack Hylton & his Orchestra Anona Wynn with the Blue Lyres Elsie Carlisle with Ray Starita & his Ambassadors Band Maxine Sullivan Patti Page Many other artists; see #Other recorded versions

"Mad About the Boy" is a popular song with words and music by actor and playwright Sir Noël Coward. The song deals with the theme of unrequited love for a film star, and while it was written to be sung by female characters, Coward also wrote a version which contained references to the then risqué topic of homosexual love. It was introduced in the 1932 revue Words and Music by Joyce Barbour, Steffi Duna, Norah Howard and Doris Hare.

The song gained new popularity in 1992 when Dinah Washington's rendition was used in the Levi's television advertisement "Swimmer", directed by Tarsem Singh.

Lyrics

The song expresses the adulation by number of women of a matinee idol as they queue outside a cinema and is sung by several female characters in turn. The adoring fans sing of their love for their hero:

“	On the silver screen He melts my foolish heart in every single scene	”
—"Mad about the Boy" (original version)

Coward later wrote additional verses for the New York production, to be sung by a male character. The lyrics make explicit reference to homosexual feelings with lines such as:

“	When I told my wife She said "I've never heard such nonsense in my life!"	”
—"Mad about the Boy" (Broadway version)

The lyrics also make camp humorous reference to the supposed effeminacy of the character, who is likened to the contemporary film actress Myrna Loy, and to his repeated unsuccessful attempts at conversion therapy with his psychiatrist. The verses were never performed, as any reference to homosexuality fell foul of the censorship laws of the time, and the new version was banned.
Object of beauty ("the boy") was rumored to be Douglas Fairbanks Jr, who, according to an American newspaper years later, "Noel loved...[but] Doug definitely didn't love him back, although the two men became good friends."

Notable recordings

"Mad About the Boy"
Single by Dinah Washington
from the album Dinah Washington's Mad about the Boy
Released	1992
Format	CD single, 7" single
Recorded	1952
Genre	Jazz, easy listening, traditional pop
Length	2:47
Label	Mercury
Writer(s)	Noël Coward
Producer	Quincy Jones

Dinah Washington's 1952 recording of "Mad about the Boy" is possibly the most widely known version of the song in modern times. The 6/8-time arrangement for voice and jazz orchestra by Quincy Jones omits two verses and was recorded in the singer's native Chicago on the Mercury label.

Washington's version was popularised for a new generation when the recording was used as a backing track in a 1992 television advertisement for Levi's jeans. In the commercial, which is influenced by the 1968 Burt Lancaster film The Swimmer, a young man runs through an American suburban neighbourhood stripping down to only his jeans, invades private gardens and dives into a series of swimming pools in order to shrink his jeans. Washington's recording was re-released by Mercury as a tie-in in with the advertising campaign, and the cover art featured a shot of the topless male emerging from a swimming pool and bore the Levi's logo. The single entered the Top 50 in the UK singles chart.

Other notable recordings include:

• Noël Coward with orchestra conducted by Ray Noble in London on September 20, 1932. The recording was not issued at the time but has been included in CD collections.
• Phyllis Robins with Jack Hylton & his Orchestra in London on October 3, 1932.
• Anona Winn with the Blue Lyres in London in October 1932.
• Elsie Carlisle with Ray Starita & his Ambassadors Band in London on November 5, 1932.
• Maxine Sullivan on May 1, 1940.
• Patti Page on the album The Waltz Queen
• Jessica Biel on the soundtrack for the movie Easy Virtue
• Helen Forrest from 1949 in the popular video game "Fallout: New Vegas"

Other recorded versions

The song has been performed by a number of other artists, including:

• Belle Baker
• Georgia Brown
• Blossom Dearie
• Buddy DeFranco
• Marianne Faithfull
• Frances Faye
• Helen Forrest
• Maria Friedman
• Jackie Gleason
• Gogi Grant
• Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra
• Lena Horne
• Cleo Laine
• Gertrude Lawrence
• Beatrice Lillie
• Julie London
• Billy May
• Carmen McRae
• Anita O'Day
• Esther Ofarim
• Eartha Kitt
• Elaine Paige on her 1993 album Romance & the Stage
• Tom Robinson
• Dinah Shore
• Jeri Southern
• Maxine Sullivan
• Dinah Washington
• Miss Piggy (as Mad About the Frog)

Other references in popular culture

• Mad About the Boy is a Norwegian live action roleplaying game (LARP) that was performed in Trysil, in Norway July 2010. The LARP was based on the comic book series Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. The music "Mad About the Boy" was used to mark the transition between each act during the play.

• In the 1950 movie Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) gives her boy-toy Joe Gillis (William Holden) a gold cigarette case on New Year's Eve. Engraved inside the cover is "TO JOE FROM NORMA" and two bars of music, with the inscription "Mad about the Boy".

• In the BBC television comedy series 'Allo 'Allo!, the ostensibly gay character Lieutenant Gruber sings this song while seated at René's café piano, staring at another male character.

• Mad About the Boy is a novel by Karen Mason and references the song.

• Peter Sellers recorded a version of the song on the Magic Christian soundtrack.

• The german Designer-Duo Talbot Runhof used "Mad about the Boy" to start their inspiration for the Fall/Winter 2011 Collection.

External links

• Sold on Song: bbc.co.uk, accessed January 6, 2009
• Levi's 1992 "Swimmer" commercial