Description
Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) is a popular song from the 1928 musical Paris – Porter’s first Broadway success. Following the numerous examples of ‘list songs’ in Gilbert & Sullivan’s operettas (much-admired by Porter) Porter’s song features a string of suggestive and playful metaphors and barely-veiled double entendres.
Let’s do it is, of course, a euphemism for sexual relations. Porter’s original opening lyrics contained derogatory racial references, so, sometime between 1941 and 1954, CBS came up with the version we are now familiar with: ‘Birds do it, bees do it’. The nature of the song is such that it lends itself to the regular addition of contemporary references.
The song has been performed and recorded countless times by a huge variety of singers, including Peggy Lee, Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Noël Coward, Alanis Morissette, Diana Ross, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett. The British comic Victoria Wood’s Ballad of Barry & Freda is loosely based on Porter’s song, and there’s even a punk rock version!
Numerous films have featured the song including Woody Allen’s 2011 film about Cole Porter called Midnight in Paris.
Ideal for weddings! Also available for wind quartet.
