"Why Try To Change Me Now?": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video

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Why Try To Change Me Now?
Written: 1952	Music by: Cy Coleman	Words by: Joseph McCarthy, Jr.	Written for: Independent Publication (not for a Broadway show, revue, movie, etc.)
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	Fiona Apple (accompanied by Dave Palmer) performing "Why Try To Change Me Now?" at the tribute concert The Best Is Yet to Come -- The Songs of Cy Coleman, September 23, 2009, at The Grammy Museum, Los Angeles More Performances of "Why Try To Change Me Now?" in the Cafe Songbook Record/Video Cabinet (Video credit )
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"Why Try To Change Me Now?"

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About the Origins of the Song

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Posted Comments on "Why Try To Change Me Now?":

(from mforfia, 4/15/2014): Wasn't this the last song Sinatra ever recorded with Columbia?

Cafe Songbook response: According to Will Friedwald in his authoritative book Sinatra! The Song Is You A Singer's Art, you are correct. Friedwald writes that the final two Columbia sessions took place in June and September, 1952, and that "the last Sinatra Columbia side ["Why Try to Change Me Now" being Sinatra's "parting shot to Mitch Miller"], "was the first song of note by the twenty-three-year-old composer Cy Coleman. Coleman reported that, on the date, Sinatra slightly altered the melody of the original opening interval. 'I listened to the record and it sounded so natural, the way Frank did it, that I thought to myself, "He's right!" So I left it that way. So I changed the music! That's the first and only time I've ever done that'." (Friedwald, p. 198, hard-bound Ed.)

Credits

("Why Try To Change Me Now?" page)

Credits for Videomakers of custom videos used on this page:

Fiona Apple: NotableMusicCo

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The Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet:
Selected Recordings of

"Why Try To Change Me Now?"

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