The Tale of the Oyster (Porter) - from CDH55422 - Hyperion Records

Photograph by Nigel Luckhurst.

Track(s) taken from CDH55422

The Tale of the Oyster is a chic, witty number from Cole Porter’s 1929 hit 50 Million Frenchmen, billed as ‘a Musical Comedy Tour of Paris in 2 Acts’. The singer is the worldly-wise fur-buyer Violet Hildegarde, who has travelled abroad hoping to be shocked. She sends up high society with a cynical tale of a ‘bivalve social climber’, gliding proudly down Mrs Hoggenheimer’s alimentary canal and emerging chastened to proclaim ‘I’ve had a taste of society, and society has had a taste of me’.

View sleeve notes/artwork (PDF)

Recording details: June 1988
Wigmore Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: April 1989
Total duration: 3 minutes 13 seconds

The Tale of the Oyster

First line:

Down by the sea lived a lonesome oyster

composer

Cole Porter (1891-1964)

1929; from 50 Million Frenchmen

author of text

Cole Porter (1891-1964)

Sarah Walker (mezzo-soprano), Roger Vignoles (piano)