“True Love” was written by Cole Porter and performed by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in the 1955 film “High Society,” which also starred Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. “True Love” was Grace Kelly’s first and only gold record and was Bing Crosby’s 21st gold record. The song stayed on the charts for 22 weeks, peaking at number 3. “True Love” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 1956, although it lost to Doris Day’s “Que Sera, Sera”.
Cole Porter was an experienced songwriter when he wrote “True Love.” The 1930s and 1940s were filled with musical successes for Cole Porter. During the 1930s alone, Porter wrote the music and words for ten New York Broadway musicals and two Hollywood movie musicals.
Cole Porter was born in Indiana in 1891 to wealthy parents. He received an extensive musical education, learning to play the piano and violin at the age of six. His favorite of the two was the piano, which he practiced for two hours a day. At the age of ten he was already writing lyrics and music for original songs, and at seventeen he published his first song.
Porter also received an impressive academic education that took him through Yale and to Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Music. While at Yale, Porter became president of the Glee Club and cheerleading leader, and among the 300 songs he wrote while at Yale, he wrote two football fight songs that are still played today. Despite being the roommate of Dean Acheson, President Truman’s future Secretary of State, Porter dropped out of Harvard Law School to continue his musical education.
After World War I, Porter moved to Europe where he met and married Linda Lee Thomas, a beautiful and wealthy divorcee and descendant of the Lees of Virginia. Their relationship was a loving, caring, lifelong partnership. Cole Porter was gay and had numerous male interests that Linda had agreed to allow. However, the marriage was at times rocky as Porter’s homosexual interests threatened the couple’s carefully maintained social appearances.
After their 1919 marriage in Paris, the Porters lived an extravagant lifestyle in Europe during the 1920s. Their palatial Paris home had floor-to-ceiling mirrors and zebra-skin upholstery. Later, they moved to a famous palace in Venice where their lavish parties included fifty gondoliers, circus acrobats, and a ballet company. They also built a nightclub outside their palace with a capacity of 100 guests.
Back in New York, Porter’s early contributions to Broadway musicals were poorly received. However, by the late 1920s, Porter gained recognition, and through the 1930s and 1940s she was one of Broadway’s brightest stars. She worked excessively and tirelessly on her own musical productions and spent time in both New York and Hollywood.
In 1937, a terrible horse riding accident crushed both of Porter’s legacies. As the story goes, while waiting for hours for help to arrive, she composed the lyrics to a verse for her song, “At Long Last Love.” The accident left him crippled and in pain for the rest of his life. He underwent more than 30 operations on his leg until he finally had his right leg amputated in 1958. After his leg was amputated, Cole Porter left music production until his death in 1964.
In 1955, Cole Porter wrote the words and music for “High Society,” starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong. The film was a musical remake of the award-winning 1940 classic “The Philadelphia Story,” which won an Oscar for best actor for James Stewart and also starred Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. “High Society” featured nine musical numbers, plus five additional songs written by Porter that were not included in the film.
“High Society” was one of MGM’s best musicals. Grace Kelly was the shining star of the film, and the romantic exchange with Bing Crosby in “True Love” was one of the film’s highlights.
Here are the lyrics to “True Love” by Cole Porter.
Sometimes the wind blows
a new moon moves at last alone
feeling way above her
oh how lucky we are
while I give you
would you give me
true love true love
so on it will always be
true love true love
for you and I we have a guardian angel
high up with nothing to do
but to give you as you give to me
love forever true
love forever true
for you and I we have a guardian angel
high up with nothing to do
but to give you as you give to me
love forever true
love forever true
give me more true love oh yeah
true love true love
true love true love
you have to give me your oh yes oh yes
true love true love
true love true love
for you and I we have a guardian angel
high up with nothing to do
but to give you as you give to me
love forever true
love forever true
love forever true love.
