# Trying to write lyrics for a 40s-style song - need songs for inspiration **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327 "2013-05-02T17:13:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/21 "2013-05-07T02:45:44Z")
The rhyme series in the first verse (romance / chance // prince / since) uses two pairs whose sounds differ only by the vowel, which I personally find off-putting, and always change when I accidentally do it (having also written songs for movies). ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/22 "2013-05-07T02:54:05Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > … were you _told_ to write a torch song or were you told to write something along the lines of “Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend”? > > I wish you luck! I’m doing this for my own screenplay. It’s supposed to be an up-tempo, jazzy number about how the singer loves her some diamonds. I misused the term “torch song,” clearly. Disregard that. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/23 "2013-05-07T18:40:06Z")
Okay, here’s the rest of it! First, the bridge: \*Flowers wilt and fade Candy makes you fat Skip the serenade Ice is where it’s at No romantic trips No soft candlelight No poetic quips If you want to entice me, you just have to ice me\* Then there’ll be a couple bars of music, then chorus two: _I… Like… Ice It’s so nice I don’t have to tell you twice Make me sparkle in the dark and you’ll wind up in Paradise I hope you’ve got the cash, or I’m afraid that it’s no dice 'Cause I… Like… Ice_ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/24 "2013-05-07T19:08:39Z")
Two faves from Bette Midler: [Stuff Like That There](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcU5MUfYoag) [Miss Otis Regrets](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQnl4TX5wOE)(a Cole Porter number that isn’t usually sung nearly this energetic; she sang this one on Johnny Carson’s last _Tonight Show_ by his request) ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/25 "2013-05-07T21:02:16Z")
Ooh, I LOVE “Stuff Like That There.” thanks for reminding me. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/26 "2013-05-07T23:15:22Z")
And [Billy-a-Dick](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxlPBkyVeko). (\*For the Boys \*was not a good movie but had some good Bette songs.) ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/27 "2013-05-07T23:21:27Z")
Shoo-Shoo baby! and Is you is or is you ain’t my baby? ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/28 "2013-05-08T00:29:08Z")
I like the bridge a lot, **Chef Troy**. I wish I could hear it sung to the music you have in mind… ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/29 "2013-05-08T03:35:48Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > Okay, here’s the rest of it! > > First, the bridge: > \*Flowers wilt and fade > Candy makes you fat > Skip the serenade > Ice is where it’s at > > No romantic trips > No soft candlelight > No poetic quips > If you want to entice me, you just have to ice me\* > > Then there’ll be a couple bars of music, then chorus two: > > _I… Like… Ice > It’s so nice > I don’t have to tell you twice > Make me sparkle in the dark and you’ll wind up in Paradise > I hope you’ve got the cash, or I’m afraid that it’s no dice > 'Cause I… Like… Ice_ Chorus is terrific, again! Especially the “Make me sparkle” line: that has greatness. A couple more nitpicks (of course!) on the verse: Would “where it’s at” have been a recognized colloquialism in the forties? [This source](http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/where.html) says it “gained widespread currency in the sixties”, and it definitely connotes sixties counterculture to me, not forties slang. “To ice” someone means, of course, to kill them, and AFAIK that expression **would** have been around in the forties. To have the narrator use it in a positive sense of “give diamonds to” someone seems peculiar. Even if you were deliberately trying to suggest a double meaning, it still _sounds_ “unintentionally humorous”. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/30 "2013-05-08T11:10:32Z")
I respectfully disagree with you, **Kimstu** , regarding “ice me”; I think it sounds intentionally humorous and I like it. Otherwise I agree. ---
**Author:** ![lew\_cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@lew\_cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lew_cody)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/31 "2013-05-08T13:24:17Z")
Other “torchy” songs from the 40s: I’ve Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good (1941) Jim (1941) He’s My Guy (1941) I’m in a Jam with Baby (1944) Waitin’ for the Train to Come In (1945) Better Luck Next Time (1947) ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/32 "2013-05-09T20:39:25Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > I respectfully disagree with you, **Kimstu** , regarding “ice me”; I think it sounds intentionally humorous and I like it. Otherwise I agree. Yes, it’s intentional. I’m envisioning the singer (who’s wearing a camel-chokingly large diamond necklace in the scene) making a gesture with both hands to her throat when she sings the line. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327/33 "2013-05-10T00:30:19Z")
There were three iconic torch songs IMO during the war years. _We’ll meet again_ and _The White Cliffs of Dover_, best known versions of both by Vera Lynn. _It’s Been a Long Long Time_ – Bing Crosby None, though, have an upbeat tempo. Inf fact, AFAIK, torch songs don’t have upbeat tempos. You want upbeat tempo? _Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy_ by the Andrews Sisters Some other choices from Bing _Give Me the Simple Life I’m an Old Cow Hand From the Rio Grande Swing on a Star You Are My Sunshine_ Some choices from Billie Holiday (they’ve probably all been covered a thousand times) _I Only Have Eyes for You Blue Moon Night and Day (You are the One)_ Might be perfect for you, if maybe a little too modern (written in 1956) _Fever_, best known version by Peggy Lee [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-write-lyrics-for-a-40s-style-song-need-songs-for-inspiration/657327.md?page=1)