Sing for Your Supper

"Sing for Your Supper"
"Sing for Your Supper"
Song
Published	1938
Songwriter(s)	Lorenz Hart
Composer(s)	Richard Rodgers

"Sing for Your Supper" is an American popular song by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The song debuted in their 1938 Broadway musical The Boys from Syracuse where it was done as a trio, with Muriel Angelus, Marcy Westcott, and Wynn Murray^[1] performing an arrangement specially created for the production by Hugh Martin.

Background

The lyrics describe a singer performing to earn her meals: "Sing for your supper/And you'll get breakfast./Songbirds always eat/If their song is sweet to hear."

Recordings

The song has been recorded by:

Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (vcl. by Martha Tilton 1938)
Rudy Vallée
Count Basie
Mel Tormé
Helen Humes
the Mamas & the Papas included it on their 1967 LP, Deliver^[2]
Also in 1967, Cher included it on With Love, Chér^[3]

Popular culture

Author Ethan Mordden used the title for his book Sing for Your Supper: the Broadway Musical in the 1930s.

References

^ Alessandro Martini. "Sing For Your Supper : by Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart". Lorenzhart.org. Retrieved 2014-03-04.
^ "Deliver - the Mamas & the Papas | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
^ "With Love, Cher - Cher | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.

[1] Alessandro Martini. "Sing For Your Supper : by Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart". Lorenzhart.org. Retrieved 2014-03-04.

[2] "Deliver - the Mamas & the Papas | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.

[3] "With Love, Cher - Cher | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.

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v t e Rodgers and Hart
Richard Rodgers Lorenz Hart
Musicals	Fly with Me Poor Little Ritz Girl The Garrick Gaieties Dearest Enemy The Girl Friend Peggy-Ann A Connecticut Yankee Present Arms Chee-Chee Ever Green Simple Simon America's Sweetheart Jumbo On Your Toes Babes in Arms I'd Rather Be Right The Boys from Syracuse I Married an Angel Too Many Girls Higher and Higher Pal Joey By Jupiter
Songs	"Manhattan" "Mountain Greenery" "Here in My Arms" "Blue Room" "My Heart Stood Still" "Thou Swell" "To Keep My Love Alive" "You Took Advantage of Me" "With a Song in My Heart" "A Ship Without a Sail" "Dancing on the Ceiling" "Ten Cents a Dance" "He Was Too Good to Me" "I've Got Five Dollars" "Isn't It Romantic?" "Lover" "Mimi" "You Are Too Beautiful" "Blue Moon" "It's Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)" "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" "My Romance" "Little Girl Blue" "There's a Small Hotel" "Glad to Be Unhappy" "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" "Where or When" "I Wish I Were in Love Again" "My Funny Valentine" "Johnny One Note" "The Lady Is a Tramp" "Have You Met Miss Jones?" "I'll Tell the Man in the Street" "Spring Is Here" "Falling in Love with Love" "This Can't Be Love" "Sing for Your Supper" "I Like to Recognize the Tune" "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" "Give It Back to the Indians" "You're Nearer" "It Never Entered My Mind" "I Could Write a Book" "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" "Ev'rything I've Got" "Wait till You See Her"