Anything Goes (Cole Porter song)

The song opens with a reference to the Massachusetts Bay Colony:

"Times have changed, And we've often rewound the clock
Since the Puritans got a shock, When they landed on Plymouth Rock
If today, any shock they should try to stem, 'Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock would land on them".

The opening stanza is believed to have influenced the orations of Malcolm X, who in 1964 said "Our forefathers were not the Pilgrims, we didn't land on Plymouth Rock, the rock was landed on us."^[4]

The song mentions Mae West, Hollywood sex symbol, and Missus Ned McLean (Evalyn Walsh McLean), who had traveled to the Soviet Union early after the Russian Revolution in an attempt to have a Tsarist relative reappointed Ambassador to the United States. Also mentioned are industrialist John D. Rockefeller, producer Max Gordon, the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys, and prominent tastemaker Lady Mendl.

One couplet refers to Samuel Goldwyn's box-office failure Nana starring Anna Sten, whose English was said to be incomprehensible to all except Goldwyn. (Goldwyn was from Poland and Sten from Ukraine.)^[2] The final stanza references an advertisement that Eleanor Roosevelt had done for a bed company.^[5]

• Frank Sinatra recorded the song for Capitol from October 17, 1955, to January 16, 1956. His version was included on Songs for Swingin' Lovers! in March 1956.^[6]
• Almost simultaneously, Chris Connor recorded the song on either January 23 or February 8 on her first album for Atlantic.^[7]
• Also in 1956, Ella Fitzgerald released the first of two versions. Recorded between February 7 and March 27 of the same year for Verve, her first version was released on Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook.^[8] In 1972, Atlantic released Ella Loves Cole.^[9] This second version was arranged by Nelson Riddle.^[9]
• Also on the Verve labe;, Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan released an instrumental rendition of the song in 1957 on their album Getz Meets Mulligan in Hi-Fi on which they switched instruments.^[10]
• Pat Suzuki recorded it on her self-titled album, Pat Suzuki in 1958.
• Tony Bennett first recorded the song on January 3 or 5, 1959, with the Count Basie Orchestra for Roulette. The recording was released on Basie Swings, Bennett Sings, also known as Strike Up the Band.^[11]
• The Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded the song for the 1966 album Anything Goes! The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Cole Porter; Brubeck and his quartet recorded their version of the song between December 8, 1965, and February 17, 1966, for Columbia.^[12]
• The song was recorded by Harpers Bizarre on their 1967 album of the same name. Released as a single, group's version peaked at number forty-three on the Billboard pop singles chart and at number six on the Adult Contemporary.^[13]
• Almost two decades later, the song was partially translated into Mandarin for the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, presumably with some assistance from John Williams, who arranged the film score.^[14] The song is performed by Kate Capshaw's character as the film's opening scene. The song is performed with a number of synchronized dancers in a large cabaret number set in a Shanghai night club circa 1935. The song is included on the original film soundtrack.^[14]
• The 1982 Royal Variety Performance featured Peter Skellern performing the song.^[15]
• Patti LuPone performed and recorded the song for the Lincoln Center's 1987 production of the musical, in which she played Reno Sweeney.^[16] She also performed the song at the 1988 Tony Awards.

There have been other cast recordings.^[17]

• John Barrowman performed the song in the 2003 West End revival; his performance was released on Anything Goes (2003 National Theatre's London Cast Recording).^[18]
• Sutton Foster, with Company, also performed the song in the 2011 Broadway revival; the performance is included Anything Goes Sondheim Theatre Broadway Cast Recording.^[19] This cast recording, from the 2011 revival, debuted at number 1 on Billboard's Cast Album Chart.^[20]
• As a recurring cast member of the Fox television series Glee, Lindsay Pearce performed the song in a mashup with the show tune "Anything You Can Do" written by Irving Berlin for the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. She performed the mashup during the season three episode "The Purple Piano Project" that was broadcast on September 20, 2011. The single peaked at No. 185 on the UK Singles Chart.^[21]
• In 2018, Ashleigh Murray performed the song in an episode of the third season of the television series Riverdale.^[22]
• In the American remake of Ghosts episode "A Star Is Dead" Rose McIver as performed the song.