The Naughty Boy

Cole Porter, misbehavin’

Comments (0) Wednesday, Dec 9 1998

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His world, finally, is a kid’s world — an early 20th-century kid, rebelling against the matriarchal propriety that dominated both his personal life and the popular culture of late Victorianism. And yet, he is always seeking that matriarch’s approval, be it his mother’s or his wife’s, and the approval of the society whose strictures they personified. The very title of one of his early hits, "Let’s Misbehave," only works because, fortunately, there were still standards that could be transgressed. The same is true for the lyric of "Anything Goes": "Good authors too who once knew better words/Now only use four-letter words . . . " Overthrowing either his own familial matriarchy or the social conventions he consistently flouted was the farthest thing from his mind.

In Kiss Me, Kate a showgirl acknowledges to her boyfriend that while she may have somewhat profitable affairs on the side, she really is his nonetheless:

Mr. Harris, plutocrat,
Likes to give my cheek a pat,
If a Harris pat
Means a Paris hat,
Hey-hey!
But I’m always true to you, darling, in my fashion,
Yes, I’m always true to you, darling, in my way.

It’s delectable, it’s delirious, and it’s Porter’s pledge of allegiance to his wife, and his mother, and the whole damn straight society.