"Love Is Here to Stay" is a popular song and jazz standard composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin for the movie The Goldwyn Follies (1938).
History
The song "Love Is Here to Stay" was first performed by Kenny Baker in The Goldwyn Follies. It became widely known when Gene Kelly sang it to Leslie Caron in the movie An American in Paris (1951). However, the song was not part of the 2015 Broadway musical An American in Paris. It later appeared in the films Forget Paris (1995) and Manhattan (1979).
The song is also heard in the movie When Harry Met Sally… (1989), where it is sung by Harry Connick Jr.
An instrumental version of the song is sometimes played in episodes of the American television sitcom The Honeymooners during scenes where Ralph Kramden apologizes to his wife, Alice.
Additionally, the song is used in the musical The 1940's Radio Hour.
Composition
"Love Is Here to Stay" was the final musical piece George Gershwin completed before he died on July 11, 1937. His brother, Ira Gershwin, wrote the lyrics for the song after George's death as a tribute to him. George had not written the verse for the song himself, but he shared an idea for it with Ira and pianist Oscar Levant before his death. When a verse was needed, Ira and Levant remembered George's idea. Composer Vernon Duke recreated the music for the verse at the beginning of the song. The song was first called "It's Here to Stay," then "Our Love Is Here to Stay," and finally published as "Love Is Here to Stay." Ira Gershwin wanted to change the song's name back to "Our Love Is Here to Stay" for many years, but he decided not to because the song had already become a standard.
The Goldwyn Follies
Ira Gershwin remembered, "So little of the song 'Love Is Here to Stay' was shown — only one part — that it did not matter much in The Goldwyn Follies." Oscar Levant recalled that the film producer called Gershwin for a meeting one afternoon and asked him to play the entire score for a group of people. This made George very angry because he thought he had moved past this stage in his career as a composer. S. N. Behrman visited Gershwin a few days before he died and wrote that George told him, "I had to live for this — that Sam Goldwyn should say to me, 'Why don't you write hits like Irving Berlin?'"
Other versions
- Red Norvo with Mildred Bailey – 1938
- Nat "King" Cole – Sings For Two In Love (1953)
- Dinah Washington – In the Land of Hi-Fi (1956)
- Frank Sinatra – Songs For Swingin' Lovers (1956)
- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong – Ella and Louis Again (1957)
- Doris Day – Hooray for Hollywood (1958)
- Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Gershwin Songbook (1959)
- Billie Holiday – All or Nothing at All (1959)
- Michael Feinstein – Pure Gershwin (1987)
- Susannah McCorkle – Hearts and Minds (2000)