From “Young Bears” to “Three-Letter Words”

The lyrics of some of Porter's most celebrated songs underwent a double process of generalization (away from the specifically local references) and neutralization (bowdlerization) as they made their way into the larger culture. This chapter illustrates that process by looking at “Anything Goes” (from the 1934 musical of the same name) as an exemplary case study, tracing its path into broader consumption spheres from its sexually and socially mischievous original version through a series of differing, Porter-sanctioned alternatives in late 1934 and 1935 to its comfortable assimilation, by the 1950s, as an anodyne standard in the Great American Songbook to be interpreted by leading recording artists.