"He Was Too Good to Me": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video

"He Was Too Good to Me"

"He Was Too Good for Me" was too good to be forgotten after it was cut from the show it was written for. It is one of those songs that became a standard without the aid of exposure in a show or movie. Intended for Lee Morse in Simple Simon, "He Was Too Good for Me" was dropped before the New York opening of the show. There was then talk of using it in the ill-fated Nine-Fifteen Revue (also from 1930) but again it was cut. Rodgers and Hart must have had faith in it because they published it independently, and after being found and recorded by artists such as Helen Merrill, Jeri Southern, Nina Simone, Doris Day, Carmen McRae, and others, it became clear it was headed for The Songbook. (See Thomas S. Hischak, The Tin Pan Alley Song Encyclopedia, Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.)

Notes

• Other songs written for Simple Simon (show) currently included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook :
• 1. Dancing on the Ceiling (not used)
• 2. Ten Cents A Dance
• For a complete listing of songs used in the original Broadway production of Simple Simon , see IBDB song list .

Cite this page: "He Was Too Good to Me": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video, Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/h/he_was_too_good_to_me.html