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That's for Me

Written: 1945

Music by: Richard Rodgers

Words by: Oscar Hammerstein II

Written for: State Fair
(movie, 1945)

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Main Stage || Record/Video Cabinet || Reading Room || Posted Comments || Credits

On the Main Stage at Cafe Songbook


(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

Susie Arioli Band
(featuring Jordan Officer (guitar), with Shane MacKenzie (bass) and Colin Perry (guitar)

performing

"That's for Me"
(Montreal, 2004)

Susie Arioli and her band recorded "That's for Me" on their 2004 album of the same title.

Amazon iTunes

More Performances of "'That's for Me" in the Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet
 

Cafe Songbook Reading Room

"That's for Me"

Critics Corner || Lyrics Lounge
About the Movie State Fair / Origins of the Song

Other songs written for the movie State Fair currently included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook:

1. It Might As Well Be Srping

 

For a complete listing of songs used in the movie State Fair, see IMDB soundtrack.

Jo Stafford, Dick Haymes and Kay Kyser all recorded charted versions of "That's for Me" in 1945; and according to one source, "That's for Me" was the twentieth most popular song of that year.



Richard Rodgers,
Musical Stages: An Autobiography New York: Random House, 1975
(Da Capo paper bound ed., 2002, pictured above).

DVD cover: State Fair
DVD

State Fair, 1945, the only score of Rodgers and Hammerstein written originally for the screen stars Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes and Vivian Blaine. The songwriting team got involved when producer Darryl F. Zanuck saw Oklahoma on Broadway and got the idea that Rodgers and Hammerstein would be perfect to write words and music for a movie-musical version of State Fair, originally a 1932 novel by Phil Stong which had already been made into a film in 1933, starring Janet Gaynor and Will Rogers. Rodgers notes in his autobiography that he and his partner "were immediately won over" after being given a special screening of the earlier film at the Twentieth Century Fox New York office on Fifty-sixth Street. Rodgers further explains that

We made sure, though, that our contract included one provision. Becacuse of our multiple activities in New York, we had no intention of spending an extended length of time in Hollywood, and we insisted that we be allowed to write the songs in the East. Though they found the request a bit unusual, the studio people agreed; the story, which was set in Iowa, would be filmed in California, while the music and lyrics would be written in Fairfield Connecticut, and Doylestown, Pennsylvania [where Rodgers and Hammerstein, respectively, resided] (Musical Stages, pp. 235-236).

State Fair opens as the Frakes, an Iowa farm family, get ready for the Iowa State Fair, which takes place every autumn. Sister and brother Margie (Jeanne Crain) and Wayne (Dick Haymes) are both prime candidates for falling in love and the fair is not a bad place to get started. Emily Edwards (Vivian Blaine) is a singer with the band at the fair and it doesn't take Wayne a long time to spot her as she sings "That's for Me." The clip below also includes a brief scene with Jeanne Craine and Dana Edwards (Pat Gilbert) who have also met at the fair.


Vivian Blaine, playing Emily Edwards, introducing "That's for Me"
in the 1945 movie State Fair
(Vivian {Emily} includes the verse.)
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Critics Corner
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Lyrics Lounge

Click here to read the lyrics (inlcuding the verse, for "That's for Me,"
as sung by Vivian Blaine.

The complete, authoritative lyrics for "That's for Me" can be found in:


book cover: "The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II"
The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II, Amy Asch (Ed.),
New York: Alfred A. Knoph/Borzoi Books, 2008.

Click here to read Cafe Songbook lyrics policy.
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Credits

("That's for Me" page)

 

Credits for Videomakers of videos used on this page:

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For further information on Cafe Songbook policies with regard to the above matters, see our "About Cafe Songbook" page (link at top and bottom of every page).

 

The Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet:
Selected Recordings of

"That's for Me"


(All Record/Video Cabinet entries below
include a music-video
of this page's featured song.
The year given is for when the studio
track was originally laid down
or when the live performance was given.)
Performer/Recording Index
(*indicates accompanying music-video)

For a more complete selection of recordings of "That's for Me," visit CD Universe.

1945
Jo Stafford
and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
album: Jo Stafford: Capitol Collectors Series


same track as on album referenced above

Amazon iTunes

Notes: "One of Tommy Dorsey's original Pied Pipers. One can already hear her distinctive voice emerging out of the four-part harmony backing the young Sinatra on his classic 1941 version of 'Stardust.' Stafford soon embarked on her own solo career, signing with Johnny Mercer's new Capitol label, but not before marrying one of Dorsey's arrangers, Paul Weston . . . . Recording information: 10/15/1943-05/17/1950. Personnel includes: Jo Stafford, Nat 'King' Cole, Gordon MacRae, Johnny Mercer (vocals); Paul Weston (arranger). Compilation producers: Ron Furmanek, Bob Furmanek" (from CD Universe album description).
(Please complete or pause one
video before starting another.)

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1945
Doris Day
album: Lost Treasures

Doris Day album: "Lost Reasures"

Amazon

Notes: These recordings were made from transcriptions between 1944 and 1947 with Les Brown & His Orchestra, a collaboration with Day that began in 1940; the video is the same track as on album above. Some tracks on this album are not available on any other CD.
Video: same track as on album referenced above bur cuts off just before the end of the band's closing bars.

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video before starting another.)

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1945
Dick Haymes
album: Two Classic Dick Haymes Albums: Richard the Lion-Hearted, Dick Haymes That Is! / Look at Me Now!


same track as on album referenced above

Amazon iTunes


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video before starting another.)

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1950
Louis Armstrong and The All Stars
album: Complete 1950-1951
All Stars Decca Recordings


same track as on album referenced above

Amazon iTunes

Notes: Personel: Louis Armstrong Trumpet amd Vocals; Barney Bigard, Clarinet; Jack Teagarden Trombone; Earl Hines, Piano; Arvell Shaw Bass; Cozy Cole Drums. "Studio recording on April 26-27 1950, New York NY but released much later as "Decca Studio Recordings Vol 1 1950."

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video before starting another.)

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c. 1959
Carmen McRae
album: Here to Stay


same track as on album referenced above

Amazon iTunes

Notes:
"One of several CDs that reissue singer Carmen McRae's early Decca recordings, this release draws its material from the 1955 small group album By Special Request and a 1959 record with the Ernie Wilkins Orchestra (Something to Swing About). McRae excels in both settings. While tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, trumpeter Richard Williams and pianist Dick Katz get some solo space on the latter album, the former one showcases McRae either with Dick Katz's quartet, accordion player Mat Mathews' quintet (with flutist Herbie Mann) or (on 'Something to Live For') with its composer Billy Strayhorn on piano. During an emotional rendition of 'Supper Time.' McRae herself plays piano. Throughout the 20 selections, the singer is heard in her early prime, hitting high notes that she would not even think of attempting in her later years. by Scott Yanow at CDUniverse.com

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c. 1988
George Shearing and
Ernestine Anderson
album: Perfect Match

Amazon

Notes: "Pianist George Shearing and singer Ernestine Anderson (who had teamed up briefly at the 1987 Fujitsu-Concord Jazz Festival) collaborated on this full-length Concord release. With strong assistance from bassist Neil Swainson and drummer Jeff Hamilton, Shearing and Anderson mostly stick to standards and their versions uplift the veteran songs" (from CD Universe album description).
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2004
Susie Arioli
album: That's for Me

Amazon iTunes

Notes: "That's for Me is the Susie Arioli Band's third release for Justin Time and it makes a specialty of a 1930s style of swing. With influences and a knowledge of repertoire from Leadbelly to Stuff Smith, from Tammy Wynette to Ella Fitzgerald, . . . . the Canadian chanteuse has a very interesting voice that is reminiscent of Peggy Lee, Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette all rolled into one . . . , however, Susie Arioli revitalizes and adds to these Great American Songbook standards and makes this music her own. . . . Band: Susie Arioli (vocals, drums); Danny Roy (saxophone); Jordan Officer, Michael Jerome Browne (guitar); Shane McKenzie (bass). Susie Arioli/Jordan Officer: Susie Arioli; Dany Roy (tenor saxophone); Shane MacKenzie (acoustic bass); Colin Perry, Michael Jerome Browne, Jordan Officer. Personnel: Susie Arioli (vocals, snare drum, cymbals, background vocals); Jordan Officer (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, violin, background vocals); Colin Perry, Michael Jerome Browne (acoustic guitar)" (from CD Universe album description.)
Video: See Cafe Songbook Main Stage above for live version -- same year but not the same track as on this album
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