Cool (West Side Story song)
"Cool" is a song from the 1957 musical West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein composed the music and Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics. This was the first song they wrote together, and Sondheim later recollects that Bernstein must have written the opening line ("Boy, boy, crazy boy") since he himself was not prone to writing melismatically.[1] This song is known for its fugal treatment of a jazz figure, described by one writer as "possibly the most complex instrumental music heard on Broadway to date".[2] In the 1957 musical, the song is performed by Riff as he advises the Jets to stay cool before entering the Rumble. This is however changed in the 1961 and 2021 film adaptations.
Summary in the 1961 film
Since the death of Riff (Russ Tamblyn), Ice (Tucker Smith) takes over as the leader of the Jets and he reasons with his team to play it cool.
Summary in the 2021 film
Hours before the rumble, Tony (
In popular culture
In 2011, actor
An episode of
The Castle episode "Cool Boys" has Richard Castle and Detective Slaughter sing it to distract some criminals holding them at gunpoint.
British sketch show Horrible Histories parodied this song as a song about the English Civil War.
References
- ^ West Side Story (1961 film) (Commentary Track). Stephen Sondheim. MGM Home Video. 2012. MGM Home Video.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - .
- ISBN 9781419750632.
- ^ Stephens, Samantha (October 4, 2011). "'Glee': Mike Chang's 'Asian F' earns an A+". The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts). Retrieved 23 February 2017.
