"How Long Has This Been Going On?"
"How Long Has This Been Going On?"
tz0o
Leading Actor Joined: 11/10/05
#0"How Long Has This Been Going On?"
Posted: 4/25/06 at 4:39pm
Hi.
For my birthday, my mother bought me Kristin Chenoweth's cd "Let Yourself Go" and fell in love with the track "How Long Has This Been Going On?". Recently, I went looking up lyrics to that song online, and discovered that while, in the cd, the song begins, "'Neath the stars at bazaars I've had often to caress men", everywhere else, the lyrics at the beginning of the song went "As a tot, when I trotted in little velvet panties,". Does anyone know which are the true lyrics to the song, as it was in the show that the song was featured in? (if the true lyrics are the latter, I can see why they were changed for Kristin Chenoweth's cd. . .)
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#1re: 'How Long Has This Been Going On?'
Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:41pmI believe the song first appeared in the Broadway musical Rosalie. Both lyrics you list have been used, but I'm not sure which ones were sung in the show.
#2re: 'How Long Has This Been Going On?'
Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:47pm
I immediatly thought: Caroline or Change thread!!
WoOT!
but no, sorry. i'm no help
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
#3re: 'How Long Has This Been Going On?'
Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:16pm
"HOW LONG how long HOW LONG how long Thiiiiiiiiis been goin' on" woh uh oh ohhhhh
Oh Caroline :)
#4re: 'How Long Has This Been Going On?'
Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:27pmsaaaaalty... saaaaaalty.... saaaaaalty
#5re: 'How Long Has This Been Going On?'
Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:27pmhow I miss thee Caroline or Change
#6re: 'How Long Has This Been Going On?'
Posted: 4/25/06 at 6:33pmThe best version of this song is by Audrey Hepburn in the film "Funny Face" with a verse especially written for her by Ira Gershwin.
#7re: 'How Long Has This Been Going On?'
Posted: 4/25/06 at 7:31pm
In my Gershwin songbook, the lyrics Kristen sings are listed as the "girl" lyrics, while the other "As a tot...." lyrics are the "boy" lyrics. (That's the version on Michael Feinstein's first Gershwin recording).
You need to understand that in the days of Gershwin and Porter, often songs were written for one show, then put in another, or used for something completely different. Often there are multiple sets of lyrics, which were written to fit the new situation of the song.
philcrosby
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/17/04
#8re: 'How Long Has This Been Going On?'
Posted: 4/26/06 at 9:58amThere were often slightly different lyrics for uses of the songs as "pop" numbers outside the shows for which they were written.
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