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The Man That Got Away

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Not to be confused with The One That Got Away.

"The Man that Got Away" is a torch song first performed by Judy Garland's character in the 1954 version of the film A Star Is Born. The music for the song was composed by Harold Arlen and the lyrics written by Ira Gershwin. It was nominated for Best Original Song at the 27th Academy Awards in 1955 but lost to "Three Coins in the Fountain".[1] "The Man That Got Away" was ranked #11 by the American Film Institute in 2004 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list.

Composition

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The decision in 1953 to remake A Star Is Born, after the successful 1937 film version, represented a career comeback opportunity for Judy Garland who had been let go by MGM in 1950.[2] Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin were signed on to the film project to contribute new songs. Arlen had previously provided Garland with her signature songs "Over the Rainbow" and "Get Happy".

The two men's mode of collaboration was to meet in the afternoon at Gershwin's Beverly Hills home, with Arlen seated at a Steinway, and Gershwin writing lyrics while seated at a nearby card table. "The Man That Got Away" was created to fulfill a request from screenwriter Moss Hart for a "dive song" in the film.[3] According to Arlen, Gershwin's wife Leonore had overheard the initial melody he was composing for the song. She said it sounded like something Ira's deceased brother and longtime songwriting partner George would have written.[4] Not wanting to be an ersatz George Gershwin, Arlen stopped playing it and switched to a different melody from an unfinished song he had worked on a few years earlier with lyricist Johnny Mercer. At the time, the song had "elegantly literate" but forgettable lyrics such as: "I've seen Sequoia, it's really very pretty / The art of Goya, and Rockefeller City / But since I saw you, I can't believe my eyes."[5] Gershwin found the new melody arresting and he quickly came up with the title, "The Man That Got Away".[6] In his book Lyrics on Several Occasions (1959), Gershwin recounted how the title hit him as a paraphrase of the fisherman's boast, "You should have seen the one that got away."[7]

The composition of "The Man That Got Away" proved arduous, with hours passing before Gershwin was satisfied with the opening stanza.[8] The style and tempo direction for the song was, "Slowly, with a steady insistence."[9] Gershwin achieved that effect by creating short, impactful couplets, often with only two or three stresses per line, to build up a sense of desolation and doom as expressed by the lovesick singer, for example: "The night is bitter / The stars have lost their glitter" and "The road gets tougher / It's lonelier and rougher."[10] Arlen was pleased with the result. He said the original lyrics had made the song sound "puny", whereas Gershwin's dramatic new words made it "like the Rock of Gibraltar."[11]

Gershwin did not want any of their songs for A Star Is Born to be "leaked" until the entire soundtrack was completed, and he made Arlen promise to respect this. Shortly after they composed their first two songs, "Gotta Have Me Go with You" and "The Man That Got Away", Gershwin reiterated his request when Arlen mentioned he would be driving to Palm Springs for the weekend. Both men knew that Judy Garland and her husband Sid Luft (producer of A Star Is Born) were vacationing there.[11] On Saturday morning, Arlen went to the Tamarisk Country Club and encountered Garland and Luft as they were teeing off on the golf course. Arlen walked with them while they played. In the middle of their round, he began softly whistling the melody of "The Man That Got Away" (he later wrote, "I don't know what tempted me").[12] Garland soon guessed the tune's provenance and insisted the three of them retire to the clubhouse where there was a piano for Arlen to play the song properly. In Arlen's words, Garland and Luft "went wild with joy" when they heard it. Despite Arlen's caution that it was supposed to be a secret, they phoned Ira anyway to tell him "how wonderful it was, and he was delighted. And when I came back [to Los Angeles] he was beaming and never said a word about my broken promise."[12]

Judy Garland performance and recording

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"The Man that Got Away"
Single by Judy Garland
from the album A Star Is Born: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
B-side"Here's What I'm Here For"
ReleasedJune 1954
RecordedSeptember 3, 1953
StudioWarner Bros. Studios, Burbank
GenreTraditional pop
Length3:39
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin

Judy Garland recorded "The Man That Got Away" with the Warner Bros. orchestra under the direction of Ray Heindorf using an arrangement by Skip Martin. Garland's performance of the song in A Star is Born is unusual for being filmed in one continuous shot. In the finished take, Garland (as Esther Blodgett) performs the song in a nightclub during a musicians-only session after closing time. The chairs are up on the tables for floor cleaning, the air is filled with cigarette smoke, and Garland's character, without an audience other than her musician friends, is encouraged by the pianist to rise from her seat on the piano bench and "take it from the top."

"The Man That Got Away" is arguably the most important single musical sequence in A Star Is Born, and was one of the first segments filmed for the movie. It was photographed in three costumes on three occasions, in over 40 partial or complete takes. Judy Garland recorded the song on September 3, 1953, and the number was initially filmed on Wednesday, October 21, 1953.

Due to technical limitations of the medium at the time, the cameraman could not give director George Cukor what he wanted for the song's nightclub setting: "low light levels, the impressionistic feeling of the musical instruments, Garland moving in and out of pools of light,"[13] so the cameraman was fired. Cukor realized later that the film stock itself was the problem, not the cinematographer, and Cukor re-employed him in several subsequent films.

Changes were then made to the costume and set, and the number was filmed a second time the following Thursday, October 29. Art director Gene Allen said, "The first time it looked as if we had painted a set to look like a bar. So to give it a slightly impressionistic look I...put a scrim between the musicians and the back bar. If you look very carefully at that scene you can see the scrim nailed down on the floor..."

According to sound man Earl Bellamy, "When Judy sang to playback, you could never hear anything...She wanted me to start off at full blast and then she topped that...her huge voice carrying out over the rafters. You could hear Judy clear as a bell, and she sang right with it..."

Garland did a total of 27 takes, both partial and complete, of "The Man That Got Away" in October 1953.[14] But in Gene Allen's estimation, "Cukor had her doing all sorts of different bits of business before the song. All of that action didn't really fit the song though — it was just too busy. Plus, she didn't look good — her costume was wrinkled, and didn't fit right...." If that weren't enough, the color was too brown for her complexion as well.

Principal photography for A Star Is Born began in earnest the first week in February 1954. Jack L. Warner and Sid Luft were so impressed with the fabulous color renditions and faithful representations of sweeping views they were now seeing with enhanced Technicolor and CinemaScope technology, they agreed to scrap nearly two weeks of previous footage of "The Man That Got Away" and shoot the song sequence again.[15] The original takes of the song were added as a special feature on the deluxe DVD edition of A Star Is Born released in 2010.[16]

And so in February 1954, the song was filmed for a third time, with new hairstyle and costume and a brand new set. Cukor felt this time they had got it right: "I think we've generated a lot of sex...She looks perfectly charming in a new Jean Louis dress, and I know that this too is an enormous improvement over the way we first did it — it has fun and spirit."[17]

For the rest of her career, Garland sang "The Man That Got Away" as a regular part of her concert repertoire. She also sang it on television on the Sammy Davis Jr. Show in 1966.

2019 dance version

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In November 2019, Universal Records issued a new dance/club version of the song, which was remixed by Eric Kupper and as such, both Garland and Kupper received billing on the single. The track also gave Garland her first posthumous appearance on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, debuting at number 41 in the November 9, 2019 issue.[18]

Chart positions

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Chart (2019) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Dance Club Songs[19] 10

Covers

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  • The song has occasionally been sung as "The Gal That Got Away" by male singers such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr. and Bobby Darin.
  • Clare Fischer's novel arrangement (recorded June 1960, released February 1962), scored for strings, harp, and a jazz quartet led by vibraphonist Cal Tjader, was one of the highlights of Cal Tjader Plays Harold Arlen, the earliest recorded document of Tjader's and Fischer's longstanding association.[20]
  • Jeff Buckley frequently performed the song (under its original title) on his last tour before his death in 1997. His live performance of the song at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco made it on to his posthumous album Mystery White Boy in 2000.
  • Audra McDonald also sang a version, which is on her album How Glory Goes.
  • Barbra Streisand sang a version on her 1993-94 concert tour, publicly dedicating her rendition to Garland's memory.
  • The song was covered by Ella Fitzgerald on her album Jazz at the Philharmonic, The Ella Fitzgerald Set, in a recording featuring Ray Brown on bass. She recorded it again for Verve on her double-album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook (1961).
  • Jim Bailey sang the song as Garland on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1970 and retained the song in his repertoire.
  • Rufus Wainwright performed it in his tribute revues of Garland's best known songs, recorded on the live album Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall (2007).
  • Maria Friedman covered the song on her self-titled album, which was reissued in the U.S. under the title Now & Then.
  • Cher recorded the song for her album Bittersweet White Light (1973).
  • Shirley Bassey recorded the song for her album The Fabulous Shirley Bassey (1959).
  • Sheena Easton also included a rather freeform rendition of the song on her album No Strings (1993).
  • Hilary Swank sings along with Garland while watching a DVD of the original movie during her lonely 30th birthday in the 2007 romantic comedy P.S. I Love You.
  • In 2008 on the BBC-TV show I'd Do Anything, a casting contest for Oliver!, eighteen-year-old unknown Jessie Buckley sang the song. In A Star Is Born (1954), the performance of the song by unknown Esther Blodgett (Judy Garland) in front of influential movie star Norman Maine (James Mason) is, in fact, the star-being-born moment of the story. Maine tells Blodgett, "You're a great singer...you've got that little something extra...star quality". After Buckley sang the song, head judge Andrew Lloyd Webber described it as "the best performance by a girl your age I have ever heard". In later episodes, he referred to Buckley's "star quality". Before the final vote, when Buckley was one of the two finalists, Webber said, "Jessie has the sacred flame of star quality".
  • Julie London released the a “sexiest of all time” cover of the song on her 1963 album, “Love on the Rocks.” As well as a recorded live version in 1964 on her album “Live at the Americana.”
  • Lorna Luft (Garland's daughter from her marriage with Sid Luft) also sings the song on her album Songs My Mother Taught Me. She also sings it in concert from time to time.
  • Courtney Love and her band Hole performed the song in concert on multiple occasions during their 2010 tour.[21][22]
  • Sylvia Brooks recorded this song on her album Dangerous Liaisons (2009).
  • Idina Menzel sang this song during her Spring 2009 tour promoting her album I Stand.[23]
  • Raul Esparza sang a moving rendition without changing the gender, leaving the lyric as "man", at the February 22, 2010 Broadway Backwards 5 benefit for NYC's Lesbian & Gay Community Center AND Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.[24]
  • On May 1, 2010, on the BBC TV show Over the Rainbow, Lauren Samuels sang this song. Andrew Lloyd Webber said she made the song her own.
  • Kristin Chenoweth sang the song on her Coming Home Tour.
  • Billy Porter sang the song on Pose while performing in an AIDS Cabaret, without changing the gender, leaving the lyric as "man" in 2018.
  • Elizabeth Gillies sings the song on Dynasty while performing as a lounge singer in the imagined version of Liam Ridley’s dictated novel pitch in the episode “You See Most Things in Terms of Black & White” in 2020.

References

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  1. ^ Osborne, Robert (1994). 65 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards. Abbeville Press. p. 135. ISBN 1558597158.
  2. ^ Hetrick, Adam (21 October 2018). "The Untold Story of A Star Is Born". Playbill.
  3. ^ Luft, Lorna; Vance, Jeffrey (2018). A Star Is Born: Judy Garland and the Film that Got Away. Philadelphia: Running Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0762464814.
  4. ^ Furia 2003, p. 202.
  5. ^ Furia, Philip (2003). Skylark: The Life and Times of Johnny Mercer. St. Martin's Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-1466819238. The Harry Ransom Center's collection of Gershwin research materials at the University of Texas at Austin contains a typescript draft of Mercer's original lyrics with Ira Gershwin's handwritten changes.
  6. ^ Furia 2003, pp. 202–203.
  7. ^ Gershwin, Ira (1973) [1959]. Lyrics on Several Occasions. New York: Viking Press. p. 242. ISBN 978-0670003938.
  8. ^ Rimler, Walter (2015). The Man That Got Away: The Life & Songs of Harold Arlen. Champaign IL: University of Illinois Press. pp. 123–124. ISBN 978-0252039461.
  9. ^ Gershwin 1973, p. 241.
  10. ^ "Judy Garland - The Man That Got Away | Genius Lyrics". Genius.com.
  11. ^ a b Lahr, John (19 September 2005). "Come Rain or Come Shine: The Bittersweet Life of Harold Arlen". The New Yorker.
  12. ^ a b Gershwin 1973, p. 244.
  13. ^ Haver, Ronald (2002) [1988]. A Star is Born: The Making of the 1954 Movie and Its 1983 Restoration. Montclair, NJ: Applause Books. p. 125.
  14. ^ Shipman, David (1993). Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend. New York: Hyperion. p. 316.
  15. ^ Luft & Vance 2018, pp. 103–104.
  16. ^ Brody, Richard (28 June 2010). "The Fury". The New Yorker.
  17. ^ Biesen, Sheri Chinen (2014). Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-1421408378.
  18. ^ "Dance Club Songs". Billboard. November 9, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  19. ^ "Judy Garland Earns First Top 10 on a Billboard Chart Since 1945 With 'The Man That Got Away'". Billboard.com. 14 December 2019.
  20. ^ "Special Merit Albums: Jazz". Billboard. February 17, 1962. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
  21. ^ "Hole - Closer and The Man That Got Away - Boston". YouTube. June 2010.
  22. ^ "Hole - Closer / The Man That Got Away - Dallas". YouTube. July 2010.
  23. ^ "Idina Menzel singing Man That Got Away, Tarrytown NY". YouTube. 23 March 2009.
  24. ^ "The Man that Got Away". YouTube. 2010.
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