Legal Law

Cole Porter’s song “True Love”

“True Love” was written by Cole Porter and played by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in the 1955 film, “High Society,” which also starred Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. “True Love” was the first and only gold record for Grace Kelly and it was the twenty-first gold record for Bing Crosby. The song stayed on the charts for 22 weeks, peaking at number 3. “True Love” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song in 1956, though it lost to Doris Day’s “Que Sera, Sera.”

Cole Porter was a very experienced songwriter when he wrote “True Love.” The 1930s and 1940s were filled with musical hits by Cole Porter. During the 1930s alone, Porter wrote music and lyrics for ten Broadway musicals for New York and two film musicals for Hollywood.

Cole Porter was born in Indiana in 1891 to wealthy parents. He received an extensive musical education, learning piano and violin at the age of six. His favorite of the two was the piano, which he practiced for two hours a day. At ten he was already writing lyrics and music for original songs, and at seventeen he published his first song.

Porter also received an impressive academic education that took him through Yale to Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Music. While at Yale, Porter became the president of the Glee Club and a cheerleader leader, and among the 300 songs he wrote while at Yale, he wrote two soccer wrestling songs that are still heard today. Despite being the roommate of Dean Acheson, the future Secretary of State under President Truman, Porter dropped out of Harvard Law School to continue his music education.

After World War I, Porter moved to Europe, where he met and married Linda Lee Thomas, a beautiful and wealthy divorcee and descendant of the Lees of Virginia. Their relationship was loving, supportive and for life. Cole Porter was gay and had numerous male interests that Linda had agreed to allow. However, the marriage was at times unstable when Porter’s homosexual interests threatened the couple’s carefully maintained social appearances.

After their 1919 marriage in Paris, the Porters lived an extravagant lifestyle in Europe during the 1920s. Their palatial Paris home featured floor-to-ceiling mirrors and zebra-skin upholstery. Later, they moved to a famous palace in Venice where their lavish parties included fifty gondoliers, circus acrobats, and a ballet company. They also built a nightclub outside their palace with capacity for 100 guests.

Back in New York, Porter’s early contributions to Broadway musicals were poorly received. However, in the late 1920s, Porter gained recognition, and during the 1930s and 1940s he was one of the brightest stars on Broadway. He overworked tirelessly on his musical productions and spent time in both New York and Hollywood.

In 1937, a terrible riding accident crushed both Porter’s legs. As the story goes, while waiting hours for help to arrive, he composed the lyrics to a verse for his song, “At Long Last Love.” The accident left him crippled and in pain for the rest of his life. He underwent more than 30 operations on his leg until his right leg was finally amputated in 1958. After his leg was amputated, Cole Porter left music production until his death in 1964.

In 1955, Cole Porter wrote the lyrics and music for “High Society,” starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong. The film was a musical remake of the 1940 award-winning classic “The Philadelphia Story,” which won a Best Actor Oscar for James Stewart and also starred Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. “High Society” featured nine musical numbers, plus five additional songs written by Porter that were not included in the film.

“High Society” was one of the best MGM musicals. Grace Kelly was the shining star of the film, and the romantic exchange with Bing Crosby in “True Love” was one of the highlights of the film.

Here are the lyrics to “True Love” by Cole Porter.

Sometimes the wind blows

a new moon finally moves alone

feeling way above her

oh how lucky we are

while I give you

would you give me

true love true love

so on, it will always be

true love true love

for you and I we have a guardian angel

up high with nothing to do

but give you like you give me

forever true love

forever true love

for you and I we have a guardian angel

up high with nothing to do

but give you like you give me

forever true love

forever true love

give me more true love oh yeah

true love true love

true love true love

you have to give me your oh yes oh yes

true love true love

true love true love

for you and I we have a guardian angel

up high with nothing to do

but give you like you give me

forever true love

forever true love

love forever true love.

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