decades finding the spaces between the notes in Richard Rodgers ’ music and new emphases in Lorenz Hart ’ s words . The song was originally written for the 1937 Broadway show Babes in Arms ( it also yielded “ The Lady Is a Tramp ”) and was sung by Mitzi Green , who had started her acting career in childhood playing Becky Thatcher in screen adaptations of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn . She also played lead in Little Orphan Annie . This may not seem to matter a jot , but it ’ s clear that throughout his active life Chet seemed to want to return to some younger state in his music , to find the nub of pure child-like melody at the heart of a song that had become a “ standard ”. Where other artists used Broadway tunes simply as harmonic templates for vertical improvisation , Chet always wanted to restore the original song and its story , even if that story had to be regendered to make sense .
Chesney Baker , Sr . had been a professional musician , a guitarist , and the family home , when not bristling with angry contention , was filled with music . Chesney Jr . was formed in that environment and in a sense never left it , inheriting ( too ) much of his father ’ s sentimental misogyny ( which is quite the most dangerous kind ) as well as a love of sweet music that was to last him to the end of his life . For Chet , as we ’ ll see , the words were every bit as important as the melody . In a sense the two were the same thing .
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