An American in Paris Songs: Why This Gershwin Score Still Works 75 Years Later

You know that feeling when you hear a taxi horn and suddenly want to dance across a bridge? That’s the George Gershwin effect. Most people think they know the an american in paris songs because they’ve seen the 1951 Gene Kelly movie or caught the splashy Broadway revival. But honestly, the way these songs were stitched together is a bit of a miracle.

It wasn't just a "best of" compilation. It was a high-wire act of musical engineering.

The Weird History of the An American in Paris Songs

Let’s get one thing straight: An American in Paris wasn't originally a musical. In 1928, George Gershwin went to France and wrote a "tone poem." No lyrics. Just an orchestra trying to sound like a homesick American walking down the Champs-Élysées. He literally bought real French taxi horns and brought them back to New York for the premiere.

The songs we associate with the title today—the ones with Ira Gershwin's witty lyrics—were actually pulled from other shows. Basically, it’s the ultimate "jukebox" musical, but with way more class than your average pop-star bio-pic.

The Heavy Hitters

When you look at the tracklist, it’s a list of the greatest hits of the 20th century. You’ve got:

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• "I Got Rhythm": Which, in the movie, involves Gene Kelly teaching French kids English. It’s iconic, but let’s be real, the tap break is the real star.
• " 'S Wonderful": A duet that manages to be both cheesy and perfectly sophisticated.
• "Love Is Here to Stay": Interestingly, this was the last song George Gershwin ever wrote before he died in 1937. Using it in a 1951 film about post-war rebirth felt... right.

Why the Movie and the Stage Show Sound Different

If you’ve seen both the film and the 2015 Christopher Wheeldon stage version, you’ve probably noticed they don’t quite match up. They shouldn't. The movie was a Technicolor dream; the stage show is a bit more grounded in the grit of post-WWII Paris.

In the stage version, they added songs like "The Man I Love" and "Shall We Dance?" to help flesh out the characters. They even threw in parts of the "Concerto in F" and "Cuban Overture" to give the dancers more to work with. It makes the whole experience feel less like a movie and more like a classical ballet that accidentally crashed into a Broadway theater.

The "An American in Paris" Ballet

We have to talk about the 17-minute finale. In the movie, this is the an american in paris songs crown jewel. It cost roughly $500,000 to film back then, which was insane money. There are no words. It’s just the original 1928 orchestral piece.

It’s divided into five sections:

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1. The Stroll (The "I'm in Paris!" vibe)
2. The Blues (The "I miss hot dogs and Brooklyn" vibe)
3. The Jazz section (The "Wait, French wine is great" vibe)
4. The Climax
5. The Resolution

Most people don't realize that the "Blues" section of the song is actually built on a 12-bar blues structure, which was a pretty radical thing to put in a symphonic work at the time. Gershwin was trying to prove that American "low-brow" music belonged in the concert hall. He succeeded.

The Hidden Gems You Probably Forgot

Everyone remembers "I Got Rhythm." Fewer people talk about "By Strauss." It’s a hilarious moment in the film where the characters basically make fun of waltzes while dancing a waltz. It’s meta before meta was a thing.

Then there’s "Tra-La-La." It’s a total throwaway song from a 1922 show called For Goodness Sake. But in the hands of Oscar Levant and Gene Kelly, it becomes this frantic, caffeine-fueled piano number that perfectly captures the energy of two guys who have nothing but talent and a small apartment.

E-E-A-T: The Gershwin Legacy

Musicologists like Jack Gibbons have spent years trying to restore the "original" sound of these pieces. For example, did you know that for decades, orchestras used the wrong taxi horns? Gershwin specifically marked the horns as A, B, C, and D in the score, but they weren't standard pitches. If the horns are off, the whole "Parisian traffic jam" sounds like a mess instead of music.

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How to Listen Like an Expert

If you want to actually appreciate the an american in paris songs, don't just put on a "Best of Broadway" playlist.

• Listen to the 1929 recording: George Gershwin himself was in the studio (though he didn't play piano on that specific track, he supervised it). You can hear the raw, jazzy edges that later Hollywood versions smoothed out.
• Watch the ballet with the sound off: Seriously. The choreography is so tied to the syncopation of the music that you can almost "see" the notes.
• Compare the lyrics: Ira Gershwin was the king of internal rhyme. In " 'S Wonderful," he rhymes "fashion" with "passion" and "humor" with "rumor" in a way that feels effortless but is actually incredibly hard to write.

Actionable Next Steps

If this has you craving a bit of French culture and jazz, here is what you should do:

1. Find the Original Broadway Cast Recording (2015) on Spotify or Apple Music. It has the most "complete" feel of how these songs work as a narrative.
2. Track down a copy of the 1951 film and skip to the 1:20:00 mark. Just watch the ballet. It’s a masterclass in production design inspired by painters like Raoul Dufy and Renoir.
3. If you're a musician, look up the sheet music for the "Blues" theme from the tone poem. It’s a lesson in how to use a "blue note" (a flattened third or seventh) to create an instant mood shift.

The songs from An American in Paris aren't just old tunes; they are the DNA of the American Songbook. They’ve survived because they capture something universal: the feeling of being a stranger in a beautiful place and finally finding where you belong.