You're the Top
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You're The Top is a Cole Porter song from the 1934 musical Anything Goes. It is about a man and a woman who take turns complimenting each other.
The lyrics are particularly significant because they offer a snapshot as to what was highly prized in the mid-1930s, and demonstrate Porter's rhyming ability.
The song was covered by Barbra Streisand for the 1972 film What's Up, Doc?.
The following is a list of many of the references made in the song.
- Colosseum
- Louvre Museum
- melody from a symphony by Strauss
- Bendel Bonnet
- Shakespeare's sonnets
- Mickey Mouse
- The Nile
- The Tower of Pisa
- Mona Lisa
- Vincent Youmans
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Napoleon Brandy
- Purple light in Spain
- National Gallery
- Garbo's salary
- Cellophane
- Turkey Dinner
- Derby Winner
- Arrow collar
- Coolidge Dollar
- O'Neill Drama
- Whistler's Mama
- Camembert
- Rose
- Dante's Inferno
- Durante
- Dance in Bali
- Hot Tamale
- Botticelli
- Keats
- Shelly
- Ovaltine
- Boulder Dam
- The Moon
- Mae West's Shoulder
- Waldorf Salad
- Berlin Ballad
- Lady Astor
- Broccoli
- Steppes of Russia
- Explication of lyrics by Slate.com
- Additional Explanation of lyrics by Slate.com
- Explication of lyrics by Playbill
- Additional risqué lyrics at Slate.com of disputed provenance, possibly by Irving Berlin or Porter himself