"Would You Like to Take a Walk?": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video

"Would You Like to Take a Walk?"

Although the Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) song list does not include"Would You Like to Take a Walk?" it was indeed written for the show Sweet and Low that opened November 17, 1930 on Broadway. As IBDB's data is based on the opening night program, perhaps the song (and its lyricist Mort Dixon) were for some reason left out of that document.

Tony Thomas in his book Harry Warren and the Hollywood Musical explains that Warren, not having become fond of Hollywood during his first stint writing for the movies had returned to his preferred native habitat of New York where Billy Rose approached him and requested that he contribute a few songs for his new revue Sweet and Low. Thomas states that the "most durable" of these numbers was "Would You Like To Take a Walk?" written with Mort Dixon. Warren and Dixon also wrote "Cheerful Little Earful" for Sweet and Low. Thomas also notes that producer Rose insisted that he too be credited with the lyrics for the songs. Warren, according to Thomas, believed "that Rose should be credited with the ideas for the songs and with some of the titles" (Thomas, p. 18.").

Ed's. Note: One must read between Thomas' lines to understand that Warren did not believe Rose contributed to the lyrics themselves. A number of producers and song publishing executives in positions of power did this kind of thing which was known n the industry ascutting in.

Notes

Other songs written for Sweet and Low currently included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook : none.
For a listing of all songs used in this show, see IBDB "Songs ."
Tony Thomas (with forward by Bing Crosby) Harry Warren and the Hollywood Musical , Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1975

Questions

What is Would You Like to Take a Walk??

Although the Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) song list does not include"Would You Like to Take a Walk?" it was indeed written for the show Sweet and Low that opened November 17, 1930 on Broadway. As IBDB's data is based on the opening night program, perhaps the song (and its ly

How should Would You Like to Take a Walk? be cited?

Cite this page as ""Would You Like to Take a Walk?": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video," Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/w/would_you_like_to_take_a_walk.html

Which Cafe Songbook pages are related?

Also read Billy Rose, songwriter (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/r_sws/rose_billy.html); Mort Dixon, songwriter (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/d_sws/dixon_mort.html); Cafe Songbook Glossary of Terms (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/misc_pages/glossary.html); "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/w/wouldnt_it_be_loverly.html).

Cite this page: "Would You Like to Take a Walk?": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video, Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/w/would_you_like_to_take_a_walk.html