Song Lyric Sunday – I’ve Got You Under My Skin

Every Sunday Jim Adams hosts Song Lyric Sunday. This week he’s charged us with picking a song that mentions bare, birthday suit, buff, exposed, liberated, naked, naturist, nude, or skin.

Now I admit that there are plenty of songs to choose from. However, and call me a prude if you want, many of those songs are just too dirty for me. I’ve never felt it necessary to get as detailed as some of those songs do. So I began my search.

The Streak from Ray Stevens came to mind immediately, but I’ve never cared for it. The Bare Necessities from Jungle Book was the next to come to mind. I always liked that song, but opted to keep looking. Dance Naked by John Mellencamp was also a possibility, but it just wasn’t one I wanted to write about. Then I narrowed it down to two.

Both involve skin. Beauty is Only Skin Deep by the Temptations, which is a fantastic Motown cut. This was almost my choice, and then the Italian part of my brain reminded me “Frank Sinatra! I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”

Cole Porter wrote this in 1936, and it debuted when actress Virginia Bruce sang it in the MGM musical Born to Dance. The musical starred Eleanor Powell and James Stewart. Frank Sinatra began performing this song on his weekly radio show in 1946. He recorded a big-band arrangement by Nelson Riddle for the album Songs for Swingin’ Lovers ten years later in which Frank really made the song his own.

Songfacts.com has some cool information about the recording session:

Sound engineer John Palladino remembers the sessions for Songs for Swingin’ Lovers as being particularly challenging because of the awkward setup of Capitol’s Studio A – a small area made even smaller when it was crammed with musicians – and Sinatra’s demands for perfection. Trombonist Milt Berhart learned this all too well on this song when he played full force, take after take, never quite hitting the crooner’s mark.

“That was a dirty trick to play on Milt,” Palladino told Sound on Sound. “He’d get in there early and practice the stuff, and then he had to play at full volume. We could have said to Frank, ‘Why don’t we intercut take one or two with Milt’s solo?’, but that never occurred to me. And besides that, Frank really didn’t like editing. He was fastidious about capturing complete takes, and so I did very little editing on his recordings.”

Sinatra held himself to the same standard of perfectionism as he did his musicians. Palladino remembers him running through this song with the musicians for 22 takes.

“Some of those takes could have been false starts where they got through a few notes and then stopped,” he said. “I doubt there were more than four or five complete takes. Frank knew his own voice pretty well, and when he wasn’t singing well, he’d walk out of a session. I’ve got to give him credit for that. In fact, I’ve got no criticism of Frank at all. His criticisms of the musicians’ playing were really top-notch, because they locked in with what he was doing. He knew what he was doing, and he knew what he wanted the band to do.”

Here’s Frank –

Ella Fitzgerald

Love this one from Carly Simon

Almost a Sinatra copy from Michael Buble

Eartha Kitt even did a version!

The Four Seasons had a top ten hit with it, too

I’ve got you under my skin
I’ve got you, deep in the heart of me
So deep in my heart that you’re really a part of me
I’ve got you under my skin

I’d tried so, not to give in
I said to myself this affair never will go so well
But why should I try to resist when baby I know so well
I’ve got you under my skin

I’d sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of having you near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear

Don’t you know, little fool
You never can win
Use your mentality
Wake up to reality
But each time that I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
‘Cause I’ve got you under my skin

I would sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of having you near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats how it yells in my ear

Don’t you know, little fool
You never can win
Why not use your mentality
Step up, wake up to reality
But each time I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop just before I begin
‘Cause I’ve got you under my skin
Yes, I’ve got you under my skin

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Cole Porter

I’ve Got You Under My Skin lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Thanks again to Jim for hosting! Have a great Sunday!