The Continental
| The Continental | |
|---|---|
| Fred Astaire , Ginger Rogers | |
| publication | 1934 |
| length | 17 min. |
| Genre (s) | Film music |
| text | Herb Magidson |
| music | Con Conrad |
| Award (s) | Oscar / Best Song |
| album | Soundtrack to Dance With Me! |
| Cover version | |
| 1976 | Maureen McGovern |
The Continental is a movie song from the musical film Tanz mit mir! . The music was written by Con Conrad , the lyrics by Herb Magidson .
background
After the success of the dance scene from Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire to the song Carioca in Flying Down to Rio , which stole the show from the actual leading actors Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond , a joint dance film between the two stars was inevitable. The Continental was the climax of the film and was the most lavish dance scene to date that could be seen in a musical film. The length also contributed to this, the dance lasted 17 minutes. However, the song was often overshadowed by Night and Day , the film's other hit number.
The Continental was the first song to win an Oscar for best song . The category was first awarded at the 1935 Academy Awards . Other nominations were Carioca , also in a dance scene by Astaire and Rogers, and Love in Bloom from She Loves Me Not .
The Continental became a jazz standard. The version by Maureen McGovern (1976), which reached number 16 in the UK Top 40 , became famous. The song was also interpreted by Frank Sinatra (1950), Buddy Collette (1957) and Dick Hyman (1960).
Individual evidence
- ^ Richard Barrios: A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film . Oxford University Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-19-508811-3 , pp. 430 .
- ^ Roy Hemming: The Melody Lingers on: The Great Songwriters and Their Movie Musicals . Newmarket Press, 1999, ISBN 978-1-55704-380-1 , pp. 156 .
- ^ The Continental. Chartstats.com, accessed January 24, 2013 .
- ^ The Continental. Secondhandsongs.com, accessed January 24, 2013 .