BUT NOT
FOR ME
HELEN FORREST
SONGWRITERS: George & ira gershwin
COUNTRY: u. s. a.
ALBUM: HOTEL ASTOR ROOF
LABEL: columbia
GENRE: pop
YEAR: 1931
"But Not for Me"
is a popular song, composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
It was written for their musical
Girl Crazy (1930) and introduced in the original production by Ginger Rogers.
It is also in the 1992 musical based on Girl Crazy, Crazy for You.
In 1959 Ella Fitzgerald
included a version of the song on her landmark álbum Ella Fitzgerald Sings the
George and Ira Gershwin Songbook. The rendition won the 1960 Grammy Award for Best
Female Vocal Performance.
Singer Ketty Lester remade
"But Not for Me" with a gospel arrangement which reached #10 on the US
Adult Contemporary chart, #41 the Billboard Top 40, and #45 in the UK in 1962.
In 2012, it was performed
by Kelli O'Hara (Billie Bendix) in Act 2, Scene 1 of Joe Pietro's Broadway
musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, which featured the music of George and Ira
Gershwin.
Helen Forrest (April 12,
1917 – July 11, 1999) was an American singer of traditional pop and swing music.
She served as the
"girl singer" for three of the most popular big bands of the Swing
Era (Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James), thereby earning a reputation
as "the voice of the name bands."
Old man sunshine listen you
Never tell me dreams come true
Just try it and I'll start a riot
Beatrice Fairfax don't you dare
Ever tell me he will care
I'm certain it's the final curtain
I never want to hear from any cheerful Pollyannas
Who tell you fate supplies a mate
It's all bananas
They're writing songs of love but not for me
A lucky star's above but not for me
With love to lead the way I've found more clouds of gray
Than any Russian play could guarantee
I was a fool to fall and get that way
Hi-ho, alas, and also lack-a-day
Although I can't dismiss the memory of his kiss
I guess he's not for me
I was a fool to fall and get that way
Hi-ho, alas, and also lack-a-day
Although I can't dismiss the memory of his kiss.