“My funny Valentine” – Chet Baker’s version

This E-book will cover The famous song “My funny valentine”, and will focus on chet baker’s version.

I will represent the song generally, and explain in my opinion why Chet Baker’s version is so good (and popular!)

A little history of the song:

“My funny valentine” was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the musical “Babes in Arms” (where we also got “The lady is a Tramp”). The song became an important jazz standard, and it is still to this day.

It has versions by many famous jazz artists, including: Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, and many more.

The original Broadway version was sung by Mitzi Green. This version cannot be found anywhere sadly, and the closest I could find is:

This version is sung by Judy Blazer, and features the original music and lyrics.

One of the next versions of the song that became popular was Frank Sinatra’s:

The lyrics of the song

The original version includes an opening verse:

Be hold the way our fine feathered-friend

his virtue doth parade.

Thou knowest not my dim witted friend,

the picture Thou hast made.

Thy vacant brow and Thy tousled hair

conceal Thy good intent.

Thou noble upright, truthful, sincere

And slightly dopey gent- you are..

These lyrics are great, and represent the song perfectly in their way, but they were dropped from basically every well known version of the song, including Chet Baker’s.

I believe that the main reason for this is that the rest of the song is so simple and direct, that the change in lyrical style and language becomes confusing. It doesn’t fit the narrative most singers wanted to bring out of this song.

Then we get to the well known lyrics.

My funny valentine

Sweet comic valentine

You make me smile with my heart

Your looks are laughable, unphotographable

Yet you’re my favorite work of art

Is your figure less than greek?

Is your mouth a little weak?

When you open it to speak, are you smart?

But don’t change your hair for me

Not if you care for me

Stay little valentine, stay

Each day is valentine’s day

The entire song represents the receiver in an unflattering, to nearly insulting way, and yet sings of how much in love the singer is.

The singer is so in love that even all of the bad features listed do not bother him.

This creates a story of the truest possible love, that doesn’t come from any “measurable” source.

The lyrics (not including the opening verse) are also totally ambiguous to the gender of the recipient, a fact that allowed men to sing the song to women with no need to change the lyrics.

As I’ve said, the lyrics are terribly simple, and can be understood and felt by anyone. This is one of the features that allowed Chet Baker’s version to become so successful.

This version is from “Chet baker sings”, probably Chet Baker’s number one album.

Many people criticize Chet’s voice regarding this album, as it is obviously not a perfect singing voice.

And yet, just as the song itself claims, Things don’t have to be perfect to be perfect. Chet’s voice works perfectly for this song, as he conveys exactly the honest, relatable, nearly sad feeling of love.

His singing is so full of emotion and yet very simple, just like the lyrics. He creates instant empathy.

This is in contrast, for example, to Sinatra’s version, which sounds way too “smart” and thus lacks this instant connection to what the song is about.

The music in the song is the only thing more complex about it.

This doesn’t get in the way though, because the playing creates a “background” with the exact mood of the song, without taking too much attention.

These are the reasons why Chet Baker’s version of “My funny valentine” is a favorite of mine, and became popular.