Editing Fred Astaire (section)

==Influence on popular song==
{{Further|List of songs introduced by Fred Astaire}}

Extremely modest about his singing abilities (he frequently claimed that he could not sing,<ref>e.g. Satchell, p. 144</ref> but the critics rated him as among the finest), Astaire introduced some of the most celebrated songs from the [[Great American Songbook]], in particular, Cole Porter's: "[[Night and Day (song)|Night and Day]]" in ''[[Gay Divorce]]'' (1932); "[[So Near and Yet So Far]]" in ''[[You'll Never Get Rich]]'' (1941); [[Irving Berlin]]'s "[[Isn't This a Lovely Day?]]", "[[Cheek to Cheek]]", and "[[Top Hat, White Tie and Tails]]" in ''[[Top Hat]]'' (1935); "[[Let's Face the Music and Dance]]" in ''[[Follow the Fleet]]'' (1936); and "[[Change Partners]]" in ''[[Carefree (film)|Carefree]]'' (1938). He first presented [[Jerome Kern]]'s "[[The Way You Look Tonight]]" in ''[[Swing Time (film)|Swing Time]]'' (1936), [[George Gershwin|the Gershwins']] "[[They Can't Take That Away from Me]]" in ''[[Shall We Dance (1937 film)|Shall We Dance]]'' (1937), "[[A Foggy Day]]" and "[[Nice Work If You Can Get It (song)|Nice Work if You Can Get it]]" in ''[[A Damsel in Distress (1937 film)|A Damsel in Distress]]'' (1937), [[Johnny Mercer]]'s "[[One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)|One for My Baby]]" from ''[[The Sky's the Limit (1943 film)|The Sky's the Limit]]'' (1943), "[[Something's Gotta Give (Johnny Mercer song)|Something's Gotta Give]]" from ''[[Daddy Long Legs (1955 film)|Daddy Long Legs]]'' (1955); and [[Harry Warren]] and [[Arthur Freed]]'s "[[This Heart of Mine]]" from ''[[Ziegfeld Follies (film)|Ziegfeld Follies]]'' (1946).

[[File:Astaire singing in Second Chorus.jpg|right|thumb|Astaire singing in ''[[Second Chorus]]'' (1940)]]
Astaire also co-introduced a number of song classics via song duets with his partners. For example, with his sister Adele, he co-introduced [[George Gershwin|the Gershwins]]' "[[Stairway to Paradise|I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise]]" from ''Stop Flirting'' (1923), "[[Fascinating Rhythm]]" in ''[[Lady, Be Good (musical)|Lady, Be Good]]'' (1924), "[[Funny Face (1927 song)|Funny Face]]" in ''[[Funny Face (musical)|Funny Face]]'' (1927), and, in duets with [[Ginger Rogers]], he presented [[Irving Berlin]]'s "[[I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket]]" in ''[[Follow the Fleet]]'' (1936), [[Jerome Kern]]'s "[[Pick Yourself Up]]" and "[[A Fine Romance (song)|A Fine Romance]]" in ''[[Swing Time (film)|Swing Time]]'' (1936), along with [[George Gershwin|the Gershwins]]' "[[Let's Call the Whole Thing Off]]" from ''[[Shall We Dance (1937 film)|Shall We Dance]]'' (1937). With [[Judy Garland]], he sang [[Irving Berlin]]'s "[[A Couple of Swells]]" from ''[[Easter Parade (film)|Easter Parade]]'' (1948); and, with [[Jack Buchanan]], [[Oscar Levant]], and [[Nanette Fabray]] he delivered [[Arthur Schwartz]]'s and [[Howard Dietz]]'s "[[That's Entertainment! (song)|That's Entertainment!]]" from ''[[The Band Wagon]]'' (1953).

Although he possessed a light voice, he was admired for his lyricism, diction, and phrasing<ref>Thomas p. 118</ref>—the grace and elegance so prized in his dancing seemed to be reflected in his singing, a capacity for synthesis which led [[Burton Lane]] to describe him as "the world's greatest musical performer".<ref name="Mueller"/>{{rp|21}} [[Irving Berlin]] considered Astaire the equal of any male interpreter of his songs—"as good as [[Al Jolson|Jolson]], [[Bing Crosby|Crosby]] or [[Frank Sinatra|Sinatra]], not necessarily because of his voice, but for his conception of projecting a song."<ref name="en.wikiquote.org">[[q:Fred Astaire#Singers and songwriters on Astaire]]</ref> [[Jerome Kern]] considered him the supreme male interpreter of his songs.<ref name="Mueller"/>{{rp|21}}And while [[George Gershwin]] was somewhat critical of Astaire's singing abilities, he wrote many of his most memorable songs for him.<ref name="Mueller" />{{rp|123, 128}} In his heyday, Astaire was referenced<ref name="en.wikiquote.org" /> in lyrics of songwriters [[Cole Porter]], [[Lorenz Hart]] and [[Eric Maschwitz]] and continues to inspire modern songwriters.<ref>e.g., the songs "I Am Fred Astaire" by [[Taking Back Sunday]], "No Myth" by [[Michael Penn]], "Take You on a Cruise" by [[Interpol (band)|Interpol]], "Fred Astaire" by [[Lucky Boys Confusion]], "Long Tall Glasses" by [[Leo Sayer]], "Just Like Fred Astaire" by [[James (band)|James]], "After Hours" by "The Bluetones", "Fred Astaire" by Pips, Chips and Videoclips, "Decadence Dance" by Extreme, and appeared on the cover of [[The Beatles]]' ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' album.</ref>

Astaire was a songwriter, with "I'm Building Up to an Awful Letdown" (written with lyricist [[Johnny Mercer]]) reaching number four in the [[Hit parade]] of 1936.<ref>Billman, p. 287.</ref> He recorded his own "It's Just Like Taking Candy from a Baby" with [[Benny Goodman]] in 1940 and nurtured a lifelong ambition to be a successful popular song composer.<ref>Thomas, p. 135: "I'd love to have been able to do more with my music, but I never had the time. I was always working on dance numbers. Year after year I kept doing that. Somehow or other I always blame myself, because I say, 'Well, I could have found the time; why the hell didn't I do it?'"</ref>

In 1952, Astaire recorded ''[[The Astaire Story]]'', a four-volume album with a quintet led by [[Oscar Peterson]]. The album, produced by [[Norman Granz]], provided a musical overview of Astaire's career. ''The Astaire Story'' later won the [[Grammy Hall of Fame|Grammy Hall of Fame Award]] in 1999, a special Grammy award to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame|title=Grammy Hall Of Fame|work=The Grammys|access-date=April 25, 2011|archive-date=February 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219001619/http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Astaire was also mentioned by the British rock band [[Queen (band)|Queen]] in the bridge of the song "Man on the Prowl", released on their 1984 album ''[[The Works (Queen album)|The Works]]''.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1fQ6PAZrGg&feature=youtu.be |title=Queen - Man On The Prowl (Official Lyric Video) |date=2014-09-24 |last=Queen Official |access-date=2024-12-06 |via=YouTube}}</ref>