The Man I Love by Kate Bush and Larry Adler

Album: Glory of Gershwin (1994)

Charted: 27

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Songfacts®:

George and Ira Gershwin wrote this ballad for the 1927 Fred and Adele Astaire musical, Lady Be Good. The song received a lukewarm reception and was subsequently dropped from the 1930 version of the show. Lady Mountbatten came across the tune in America and she asked George Gershwin for an autographed copy that she could take back to England, prompting British dance bands to start playing the song. A few years later, a recording by torch singer Helen Morgan finally made the song a success in the US. Other artists who have covered it include Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Barbra Streisand.
In 1994 Kate Bush covered this with world-renowned harmonica player Larry Adler for the 1994 Glory of Gershwin CD. Adler had just turned 80 when he recorded his duet with Bush, and when the song entered the UK Top 40, he became the oldest man ever to have a UK hit single.
The smoky, black-and-white video was directed by Kevin Godley, who used a similar look in his video for "Every Breath You Take" by The Police.

Comments: 1

Woody from New York, NcKate gives the song a great contemporary spin. I loved the harmonica, an unexpected addition. Good version of the classic.

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