1891–1964

A writer and composer of famous Broadway musicals, Cole Porter was an icon of the Jazz Age with his unique combination of urban sophistication and popular appeal. His first Broadway production was See America First (1916). He married the wealthy Linda Lee Thomas, and quickly became a society darling, known as much for his friends as for his music. His compositional output was nonetheless prodigious, and he produced such popular musicals as Paris (1928), Kiss Me Kate (1948), Can–Can (1953), and Silk Stockings (1955). His wonderful and light–hearted songs include classics such as Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love), I Happen to Like New York, and I’ve Got You Under My Skin.

I Happen to Like New York
(1930)
by Cole Porter
I happen to like New York.
I happen to like this town.
I like the city air, I like to drink of it,
The more I know New York the more I think of it.
I like the sight and the sound and even the stink of it.
I happen to like New York.
I like to go to Battery Park and watch those liners booming in.
I often ask myself, why should it be?
That they come so far across the sea...?
I suppose it’s because they all agree with me.
They happen to like New York.
Last Sunday afternoon I took a trip to Hackensack,
But after I gave Hackensack the once over,
I took the next train back.
I happen to like New York.
I happen to love this burg.
And when I have to give the world a last farewell,
And the undertaker starts to ring my funeral bell,
I don’t want to go to heaven, don’t want to go to hell.
I happen to like New York.