The movie Something to Shout About, filmed in 1942 but released in 1943, introduced the Academy Award-nominated song “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To.” It was sung by Don Ameche and Janet Blair in the backstage story which itself was nothing much to shout about.

The song was recorded by Frank Sinatra and made 16 appearances on the popular radio show Your Hit Parade. However, it was Dinah Shore with the Paul Weston Orchestra who took it to the charts where it remained for 18 weeks, topping at #3. The vocal group Six Hits and a Miss later had modest success with the song, charting for two weeks and reaching #11.

It was the only song from the film that caught on with the public. In his book Cole Porter: A Biography Charles Schwartz says that the song ...”evoked enough of a feeling of togetherness in its wistful melody and lyrics to have almost instant appeal for the millions who were then separated from their loved ones because of the war.”

Henry Martin in his book Enjoying Jazz analyzes an Ella Fitzgerald performance of the song that he calls “a freewheeling improvisation of the melody with the original lyrics.... For a lyric to be applied so freely, it is necessary that it be fairly easy to sing. The smooth, colloquial lyric of ‘You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To’ enables Fitzgerald to show off her technique to excellent effect.”

The song’s appeal has lured even avant garde pianist Cecil Taylor to record it. Recent instrumental performances include renditions by pianist Bill Mays, guitarist Jack Wilkins, and flutist Ali Ryerson. Four contemporary vocalists perform the song at different tempos ranging from upbeat to slow ballad-- Janis Mann, Kenny Rankin, Giacomo Gates, and Andy Bey--but none of them include the verse--and with reason.

The verse, in fact, qualifies the love expressed in the song and totally changes the meaning: “It’s not that you’re fairer...It’s not that you’re rarer...No, my darling, this is the reason why you’ve got to be mine.” With this introduction the song’s romantic images become merely a wish, an idealization, intended as a seduction instead of a sincere expression of admiration: “You’d be so nice by the fire...under stars, chilled by the winter...under an August moon burning above....”

Cole: A Biographical Essay, by Robert Kimball and Brendan Gill, includes a second verse, apparently sung by the female love interest in response to the refrain. In this verse romance takes a real hit and the love expressed in the refrain is belittled:

I should be excited,
But, Lothario, why not own up
That you always chase
After ev’ry new face
In town?

Since both verses burst the bubble of romance and detract from the expressed desire, they are best unsung. Porter’s lyrics for the refrain are evocative, and they soothed a war time generation of couples longing to be reunited. Their magic is still effective generations later. And the move from the minor key opening to the major key ending adds to the song’s hopefulness. The verse aside, it’s a tune that jazz musicians still love to explore.