Isn't It Romantic?

Album: Love Me Tonight (1932)
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Songfacts®:

  • The popular songwriting duo Rodgers & Hart wrote this enduring love ballad for the 1932 film Love Me Tonight, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. Chevalier plays a Parisian tailor who poses as a baron and wins the affection of a princess, played by MacDonald. His version of "Isn't It Romantic?," which relishes all of the servant-like tasks his lover will perform for him, including scrubbing the floor and cooking him onion soup, is much different than the published version about falling in love under the moonlight. Chevalier introduces the tune in the tailor shop and several other characters pick it up and pass it along until it ends up with MacDonald.
  • Rudy Vallee sang this in the 1942 romantic comedy The Palm Beach Story. It was also used in several other movies, including The Lady Eve (1941), The Major and the Minor (1942), A Foreign Affair (1948), Sabrina (1954), Mommie Dearest (1981), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Father of the Bride (1991), and How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days (2003).
  • The cast of Cheers sang this three times. Nicholas Colasanto sang it in the 1984 episode "Coach in Love: Part 1," Ted Danson and Shelley Long sang it in "Coach in Love: Part 2," and Kelsey Grammer, George Wendt, and John Ratzenberger sang it in the 1991 episode "The Days of Wine and Neuroses."

    It was also featured on the TV shows Happy Days, Night Court, Frasier, 7th Heaven, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and The Following. A version by Chet Baker was used in the 2015 American Horror Story episode "Flicker."
  • This was included on several tribute albums to the songwriting duo, such as Ella Fitzgerald's 1956 album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook and Tony Bennett's 1973 album Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs.
  • Rod Stewart sang this on his 2004 standards album, Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III.

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