Down in the Depths (On the Ninetieth Floor)

"Down in the Depths (on the Ninetieth Floor)" is a torch song written by Cole Porter, for his 1936 musical Red, Hot and Blue, in which it was introduced by Ethel Merman.[1] The lyric scheme juxtaposes images of high and low. It is a lament from the point of view of a rich woman in a penthouse apartment higher than any building but the Empire State Building, who looks down on the busy city life below her but nevertheless feels she is at the lowest and poorest point of her life because she is lonely.[2] Porter's melody is musically intertwined with the lyric scheme in a similar manner to his song "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye."

The song was a late edition to the show only being added during the Boston tryout.[3]

  1. ^ "Internet Broadway Database". ibdb.com. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  2. ^ Lasser, Michael (2013). Routledge. New York: Routledge. p. 143. ISBN 9780415810081.
  3. ^ Porter, Cole (2019). The Letters of Cole Porter. Yale, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 140. ISBN 9780300219272.