Anything Goes” is a song written by Cole Porter for his 1934 musical of the same name. The lyrics include humorous references to figures of scandal and gossip from Depression-era high society. The song opens with a reference to the Massachusetts Bay Colony “Times have changed, And we’ve often rewound the clock. Since the Puritans got a shock, When they landed on Plymouth Rock. If today, any shock they should try to stem, ‘Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock would land on them”. The opening stanza is believed to have influenced the orations of Malcolm X, who in 1964 said “Our forefathers were not the Pilgrims, we didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, the rock was landed on us.”
The song mentions Mae West, Hollywood sex symbol, and Missus Ned McLean, who had travelled to Soviet Union early after the Russian Revolution in an attempt to have a Tsarist relative reappointed Ambassador to the United States. Also mentioned are industrialist John D. Rockefeller, producer Max Gordon, the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys, and prominent tastemaker Lady Mendl. One couplet refers to Samuel Goldwyn’s box-office failure Nana starring Anna Sten, whose English was said to be incomprehensible to all except Goldwyn. The final stanza references an advertisement that Eleanor Roosevelt had done for a bed company.
Frank Sinatra recorded the song at the end of 1955. His version was included on Songs for Swinging Lovers! in March 1956. Months later, Ella Fitzgerald released the first of two versions. Recorded in February of the same year, her first version was released on Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook. In 1972, Atlantic released a second version on ‘Ella Loves Cole’. Tony Bennet first recorded the song in January 1959, with the Count Basie Orchestra. The Dave brubeck Quartet recorded the song for their 1966 album. Brubeck and his quartet recorded their version of the song at the end of 1965. The song was recorded by Harpers Bizarre and released as a single in 1967. The group’s version peaked at number forty-three on the Billboard pop singles chart.
Almost two decades later, the song was partially translated into Mandarin for the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, presumably with some assistance from John Williams, who arranged the film score. The song is performed by Kate Capshaw’s character as the film’s opening scene. The song is performed with a number of synchronized dancers in a large cabaret number set in a Shanghai night club circa 1935.
Bennett sang “Anything Goes” on his album Strike Up the Band (1959), which Gaga heard when she was 13 years old. She thought “Anything Goes” was a funny track with a “real sexy, powerful vibe to it, and it’s just because we’re having fun singing it.” Gaga and Bennett switched lyrics. Howard Reich of Chicago Tribune gave their version a positive review, saying he found Gaga to be in “good voice” and Bennett in “classic form”.
