Night and Day
The one of the most debated obscure detail about Cole Porter’s 1932 standard “Night and Day” is that historians—and perhaps even Porter himself—cannot agree on what actually inspired its signature, hypnotic rhythm.
Because Porter frequently mythologized his own life, there are three completely different origin stories for the song’s famous repetitive verse (“Like the beat, beat, beat of the tom-tom…”):
- The Morocco Claim: Porter famously stated that the driving rhythm and single-note melody were inspired by an Islamic call to prayer he heard while vacationing in Morocco.
- The Ohio Claim: Other accounts argue the exotic inspiration was actually much closer to home, claiming the song was sparked by the Moorish architecture of the Alcazar Hotel in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
- The Italy Claim: A third story suggests the idea came to him while he was staring at the intricate tiles of a mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia during his honeymoon in Ravenna, Italy.
A Structural Anomaly
Beyond its origin story, the song was completely unorthodox for a 1930s pop hit. Most popular tunes of the era followed a strict 32-bar structure, usually divided into four 8-bar sections (the standard AABA format).
“Night and Day” ignored this completely. It features a sprawling 48-bar chorus divided into a highly unusual ABABCB structure, with the “C” section acting as the bridge. Despite this complex and uncommercial architecture, Fred Astaire’s 1933 recording of it went on to become the top-selling record of the year.
A victim of its own success: The song became so ubiquitous so quickly that humorist Ring Lardner wrote a series of parody couplets mocking its dramatic, yearning lyrics: “Night and day under the fleece of me / There’s an Oh, such a flaming furneth burneth the grease of me.”
WE&P by: EZorrillaMc&Co
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