Barry Manilow - My Funny Valentine (Official Lyric Video)

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Official lyric video for Barry Manilow's “My Funny Valentine” from the 2020 album 'NIGHT SONGS II'

"My Funny Valentine" is an intimate affair with just Barry, his piano, and music by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

'NIGHT SONGS II' is now available: https://barrymanilow.lnk.to/NSII214ID

The song was composed in 1937 by the great songwriters Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart for their musical “Babes In Arms”.
“Babes in Arms” is a backstage musical about kids who put on a revue. All the songs are presentational except for “Valentine” which is a “book” song, integrated into the main story line.
Most people think that the song is about Valentine’s Day, but in the show, Billie, played by Mitzi Green, sings it to her new love “Val”, short for Valentine. Thus, “My Funny Valentine”.
The lyric is atypical for a love ballad because it celebrates his less than stellar traits: looks that are “laughable, unphotographable”, a body that is “less than Greek” and a mind that is “dim-witted.”
“But", she sings, “Don’t change a hair for me/not if you care for me.”

The song took many years before it would become popular.
In 1939, it was featured in the successful musical film version of the show and starred Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, but the song was cut before the film was released.
As if to make up for that mistake, it was featured in the film version of the Broadway musical “Pal Joey”. Kim Novak sings it to Frank Sinatra. But nothing happened with the song.
In 1945, MGM made a movie about Rodgers and Hart and didn’t include the song.

Finally, in the late forties and early fifties cabaret and jazz singers discovered the song and it began to become popular.
Baritone Sax great Gerry Mulligan recorded it with his piano-less quartet featuring Chet Baker.
Baker fell in love with song and recorded it on his breakthrough album, “Chet Baker Sings”.
Writer Will Friedwald says, “My Funny Valentine” was really born when Frank Sinatra recorded it in 1953.
It’s been recorded by over 600 artists including Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald and Johnny Mathis. It has appeared in numerous films such as “The Talented Mr. Ripley”. Matt Damon imitated Chet Baker’s silky vocal style. And Sting’s version of the song makes you melt.
The song is really interesting because it begins in a minor key, which usually signifies sadness and ends in a major key because the lyric turns positive.
It’s been recorded by so many singers that Friedwald tells an anecdote about a record buyer asking the clerk at a record store if he has any albums that don’t include “My Funny Valentine”!
There’s a lovely introduction to the song and I decided to use that melody as the intro of my version.
Enjoy!
-Barry

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LYRICS:
You're my funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks so laughable
Unphotographable
Yet you're my favourite work of art

Is your figure less than Greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay, funny valentine, stay
Each day is Valentine's Day

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