The Man I Love 1928
Vocals: Layton & Johnstone
Songwriting: Gershwin / Gershwin
When the mellow moon begins to beam
Every night I dream a little dream
And of course Prince Charming is the theme
The “he” for me
Although I realize as well as you
It is seldom that a dream comes true
To me its clear
That he’ll appear
Someday he’ll come along
The man I love
And he’ll be big and strong
The man I love
And when he comes my way
I’ll do my best to make him stay
He’ll look at me and smile
I’ll understand
And in a little while
He’ll take my hand
And though it seems absurd
I know we both won’t say a word
Maybe I shall meet him Sunday
Maybe Monday, maybe not
Still I’m sure to meet him one day
Maybe Tuesday will be my good news day
He’ll build a little home
Just meant for two
From which I’ll never roam
Who would, would you
And so, all else above
I’m waiting for the man I love
Someday he’ll come along
The man I love
And he’ll be big and strong
The man I love
And when he comes my way
I’ll do my best to make him stay
He’ll look at me and smile
I’ll understand
And in a little while
He’ll take my hand
And though it seems absurd
I know we both won’t say a word
Maybe I shall meet him Sunday
Maybe Monday, maybe not
Still I’m sure to meet him one day
Maybe Tuesday will be my good news day
He’ll build a little home
Just meant for two
From which I’ll never roam
Who would, would you
And so, all else above
I’m waiting for the man I love
Interestingly, even though many oopsie gaysie versions exist from the 1920s, in a later in life conversation the songwriter Ira Gershwin seemed somewhat uncomfortable with it. Michael Feinstein, an archivist and musician working with Gershwin recalls playing him a purposefully gay version sung by the San Francisco Gay Man’s Chorus: ‘He never expected to hear that song sung by a very masculine and robust chorus as “The Man I Love.” And he said, OK, I’ve heard enough of that.’
In the same interview, Feinstein notes that Ira Gershwin had written a different version of the song specifically for male singers called ‘The Girl I Love’. Along with changing pronouns and the word ‘Man’ to “Girl’ it had significantly different lyrics. However, as ‘The Man I Love’ had become such a big hit across the board, he never felt the need to publish ‘The Girl I Love’ and it was largely forgotten.
For even more details about the song, including talk about sexuality and gendered lyrics, I highly recommend reading or listening to the rest of the NPR interview with Feinstein that can be found here.