“There’s No Business Like Show Business” — Ethel Merman
Whenever I need to steel myself for a challenging task ahead, I always think of “There’s No Business Like Show Business”.
It became Ethel Merman’s signature song, and there’s no-one who could give it the breezy, blousy treatment quite like her. Her performance of the song, possibly even more than the song itself, makes it a great song to listen to when you’re feeling down and need something to lift you up.
“There’s No Business Like Show Business” was originally written for the 1946 Broadway musical “Annie Get Your Gun”, which was also made into a film in 1950.
The silver screen wasn’t finished with “There’s No Business Like Show Business”, though, as it reappeared in the film of the same name in 1954…a film that featured a young Marilyn Monroe just before her career went stratospheric.
In addition to Ethel Merman’s devil-may-care vocal treatment of the song, it’s also got one of the most wonderful opening lines of any song ever written…
There’s no business like show business like no business I know
Written by one of the 20th Century’s most talented songwriters, Irving Berlin…who wrote “White Christmas”, “Cheek To Cheek” and “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” among many others…this line alone is a lyrical masterpiece.
