I Get a Kick Out of You


"I Get a Kick Out of You" is a song by Cole Porter, which was first sung in the 1934 Broadway musical Anything Goes, and then in the 1936 film version. Originally sung by Ethel Merman, it has been covered by dozens of prominent performers, including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. A cover in 1995 won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement with Accompanying Vocal for arranger Rob McConnell.

Alterations to the song

The lyrics were first altered shortly after being written. The last verse originally went as follows:
After the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping, Porter changed the second and third lines to:
In the 1936 movie version, alternative lyrics in the second verse were provided to replace a reference to the drug cocaine, which was not allowed by Hollywood's Production Code of 1934.
The original verse goes as follows:
Porter changed the first line to:
Sinatra recorded both pre-Code and post-Code versions : the first in 1953 and the second in 1962. On a in 1962, Sinatra sings the altered version with the first line as "Some like the perfume from Spain". Other Porter-approved substitutions include "whiff of Guerlain." There is also a version with the "Some like the bop-type refrain" on Sinatra and Swingin' Brass.
All three of the above alternatives are mentioned in the liner notes to Joan Morris and William Bolcom's CD, Night and Day; on the recording, Morris sings the original second verse.