“Patty Andrews, the lead singer of the Andrews sisters group was born in Mound, Minnesota on February 16, 1918 in a house that occupied the property where The Gillespie Center stands today.
During the 1920’s Laverne, Maxene and Patty Andrews spent their summers in Mound, living with their parents in a house across the street from the grocery store that was owned by Pete and Ed Sollie, bachelor uncles of the three girls. (Today, Green T Accounting occupies the Sollie grocery store building and The Gillespie Center is on the land where the Andrews Sisters’ house once stood.)” - From a commentary by Tom Rockvam that appeared in The Laker Newspaper during 2005.
They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, the Boswell Sisters. After singing with various dance bands and touring on Vaudeville, they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts in 1937. Their music entertained Allied troops worldwide during World War II, sold war bonds, appeared in several films (including a few Abbott and Costello features), and performed for soldiers serving overseas. Their first film with Abbott and Costello, the pre-war comedy Buck Privates, introduced their best-known recording, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" which would win Best Song at the Academy Awards.
They also recorded many songs with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and other popular artists of the era. Their popularity was such that after the war they discovered that some of their records had actually been smuggled into Germany after the labels had been changed to read "Hitler's Marching Songs."
After a brief hiatus after the war, the sisters regrouped, performing in clubs throughout the United States and Europe. They broke up in 1953, with Patty's choice to go solo. Their last appearance together was in 1962 on The Dean Martin Show. Laverne, who had cancer, retired soon after; she died five years later, in 1967 at the age of 55.
After a long silence, the two surviving sisters had something of a comeback when Bette Midler recorded a cover of their song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Maxene and Patty appeared both together and separately throughout the 1970s, with Maxene releasing a solo album in 1986. Their most notable comeback; however, was in the Sherman Brothers' nostalgic World War II musical: "Over Here!" which premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in 1974. The musical featured the two then living sisters (Maxene and Patty) and was written with them in mind for the leads. It launched the careers of many, now notable theater and film icons (John Travolta, Marilu Henner, Ann Reinking, et al). Ironically it was the last major hurrah of the sisters and was cut short due to a frivolous lawsuit initiated by Patty's husband to the show's producers.
Throughout their long career, the sisters had sold over 60 million records. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
The last of the three sisters Patty Andrews died of natural causes at her home in Northridge, California on January 30, 2013, just 17 days before her 95th birthday. The sisters were interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, close to their parents.
Anything You Can Do
The Andrews Sisters Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can do, we can do, I can do, much much better than You.
Anything you can do, I can do better.
I can do anything better than you.
No you can't.
Yes I can.
No you can't.
No you can't.
Yes I can, yes I can.
Anything You can be I can be greater.
Sooner or later, I'm greater than you.
No, you're not.
Yes I am.
No you're not.
Yes I am.
No you're not.
Yes I am, yes I am.
I can shoot a partridge with a single cartridge.
I can get a sparrow with a bow and arrow.
We can do most anything.
Can you bake a pie?
No.
Well Neither can I.
Anything you can sing I can sing louder.
I can sing anything louder than you.
No you can't.
Yes I can.
No you can't.
Sure I can.
No you can't.
Yes I can
I'm superior, no you're inferior.
I'm the big attraction, oh no you are the small.
I'm the major one, oh no you're the minor one,
I can beat you at anything', and that's not all.
Anything you can buy, I can buy cheaper.
I can buy anything cheaper than you.
Fifty cents.
Forty cents.
Thirty cents.
Twenty cents.
No you can't.
Yes I can, yes I can.
Anything you can dig, I can dig deeper.
I can dig anything deeper than you.
Thirty feet.
Forty feet.
Fifty feet.
I can drink my liquor faster than a flicker.
I can do it quicker and get even sicker.
I can live on bread and cheese.
And only on that?
Yep.
So can a rat.
Any note you can reach, I can go higher.
I can sing anything higher than you.
No you can't.
Yes I can.
No you can't.
Yes I can.
Anyone you can lick, I can lick faster.
I can lick anyone faster than you.
With your fist?
With my feet.
With your feet?
With an axe.
Anything you can do, I can do better.
I can do anything better than you.
No you can't.
Yes We can.
No you can't.
Yes We can.
No you can't.
Yes We can, yes We can.
The Andrews Sisters's song "Anything You Can Do" is a playful and competitive duet that suggests a battle of the sexes. The song opens up with the famous trademark melody of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better". The lyrics exchange between a male and a female who are both boasting about the many things they can do better than the other. The lyrics are filled with playful insults as they go back and forth, disagreeing about who is the best singer, shopper, and listener. The song ends on a happy note, uniting the two genders to work together as a team to be able to achieve everything.
On one interpretation, the song highlights a playful and humorous exchange between two people who are romantically involved, as they playfully compete with one another to prove who is superior in various activities. On the other hand, the song could also be viewed as a challenge of sexual stereotypes during a time when such notions were rigidly defined. Women who were expected to be inferior in many ways were now being celebrated as capable of accomplishing the same feats as men, and that too with zeal and enthusiasm.
Line by Line Meaning
Anything you can do, I can do better.
I am confident in my abilities and believe that I can perform any task better than you.
I can do anything better than you.
I have the skills and talent to do any task better than you.
No you can't.
You are incorrect in your belief that you can perform better than me.
Yes I can.
I am sure that I can perform better than you in any given task.
Anything You can be I can be greater.
I am capable of doing anything you can do, and doing it better than you.
Sooner or later, I'm greater than you.
I will always have the ability to surpass you in terms of talent and skill.
I can shoot a partridge with a single cartridge.
My hunting abilities are superior to yours as I can take down a partridge with only one bullet.
I can get a sparrow with a bow and arrow.
My hunting skills are so precise that I am able to catch a small bird like a sparrow with a bow and arrow.
We can do most anything.
Together, we have the ability to perform a variety of tasks.
Can you bake a pie?
Do you have the ability to make a pie from scratch?
No.
You do not have the ability to make a pie from scratch.
Well Neither can I.
I also do not have the ability to make a pie from scratch.
Anything you can sing I can sing louder.
I can sing any song louder and with more gusto than you can.
I'm superior, no you're inferior.
I am better than you in every way and hold a higher status.
I'm the big attraction, oh no you are the small.
I am the main focus and center of attention, while you are insignificant in comparison.
I can beat you at anything', and that's not all.
I have the ability to defeat you in any task, and there is more to my skills than what meets the eye.
Anything you can buy, I can buy cheaper.
I know how to find the best deals and can purchase anything for a lower price than you can.
Fifty cents.
The amount of money you can purchase something for.
Forty cents.
The amount of money I can purchase the same thing for.
Thirty cents.
The amount of money you argue you could further reduce the price.
Twenty cents.
The amount of money I counter with, proving I can purchase things cheaper than you.
Anything you can dig, I can dig deeper.
I can dig any hole or trench deeper than you can.
Thirty feet.
Depth you can dig a hole or trench.
Forty feet.
Depth I can dig a hole or trench, surpassing your abilities.
I can drink my liquor faster than a flicker.
I am able to down alcohol at a rapid pace, more quickly than you.
I can do it quicker and get even sicker.
Not only can I down my alcohol faster, but I am also able to allow it to affect me more greatly than you.
I can live on bread and cheese.
I can survive on a much simpler diet than you can.
And only on that?
You are questioning my ability to sustain myself on such a limited diet.
Yep.
Yes, I am capable of surviving on bread and cheese alone.
So can a rat.
You are saying that even a rodent could survive on this diet.
Any note you can reach, I can go higher.
I have the ability to sing any note at an even higher pitch than you can.
Anyone you can lick, I can lick faster.
I can defeat anyone you can in a physical confrontation, and I can do it more quickly.
With your fist?
You're questioning my ability to win a fight using only my fists.
With my feet.
I am able to defeat someone in a physical confrontation by using my feet to kick.
With your feet?
You're questioning my ability to defeat someone in a physical confrontation by using my feet to kick.
With an axe.
I am able to defeat someone in a physical confrontation by using a weapon like an axe.
Yes We can.
We can perform tasks together and exceed what either of us could do alone.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Irving Berlin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
J Parker
on Crazy Arms
And I'll move the mountains
If he wants them out of the way
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love, I'd say
I say I'll go through fire
And I'll go through fire
As he wants it, so it will be
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love, you see
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while
I say I'll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love am I
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while
I say I'll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love am I
sonichits has completely wrong lyrics for this song. Correct ones are - Now blue ain't the word for the way that I feel
And the storm's brewing in this heart of mine
This is no crazy dream I know that it's real
You're someone else's love now you're not mine
Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon to another you'll be wed
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
Please take the treasured dreams I have for you and me
And take all the love I thought was mine
Someday my crazy arms will hold somebody new
But now I'm so lonely all the time
interlude
Crazy arms that reach to hold someone new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon that you soon will be wed
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
Crazy arms and lonely all the time
Harold Chernofsky
on Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
i love them