When singers kill a song, they own it. And when they own it, most other singers avoid taking it on for fear of being compared to the ultimate version. Those who do cover it fully admit that their version is just for kicks.
Among the long list of singers and songs that belong to them are Tony Bennett's I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Ella Fitzgerald's Goodie-Goodie, Frank Sinatra's You Make Me Feel So Young, Eydie Gormé's What Did I Have That I Don't Have, Nat King Cole's Unforgettable and Barbra Streisand's People, to name a few.
Judy Garland's showstopper in the film A Star Is Born (1954) was The Man That Got Away, by Ira Gershwin and Harold Arlen. No one has even come close to Garland's performance and it became her signature song, along with a handful of others.
Most people are unaware that the song for the movie went through many different on-camera takes before settling on the one in the film. Fortunately, I found a bunch of the surviving takes on YouTube. Let's look at the three different approaches and outfits on Judy and why most didn't work and why the one used was close to perfect:
Here's the first take, on October 20, 1953, with Garland barely in the scene at first on the left, with the camera centering on the musicians instead...
Here's the second take on October 27, 1953 (ignore what the YouTube says). This one sets up the scene much better, and Garland in brown beats pink for the heartbreak number. Serving the guys coffee establishes her as one of the guys and their "kid sister"...
Here are the fourth and fifth takes...
Here are the sixth and seventh takes...
But there was still something wrong with the scene. Having Garland go up and sit on the bench with the pianist is too familiar and undercuts the song's pain and Garland's anguish. Having her serve coffee casts her as an assistant rather than the star. And the lighting and Garland's matronly brown one-piece doesn't do much for her. All of that was remedied in the final approach.
Here's the take used for the film. In this one, the waiter serves the coffee, Garland is dead center, the lighting is darker and moodier, she's more formally attired and elegant, her lipstick is lusher and instead of going over to sit on the bench, she gets up from the bench to "take it." The only problem with the scene for me is that the actor playing the trombone foolishly overacts rather than simply pretending to play. And Garland's improvised outstretched arm shot out of the camera's frame. Nevertheless, her performance remains stunning nearly 70 years later and immortalized her...
Notes: All of the "musicians" in the scene are actors. The piano you hear is by Buddy Cole (Hal Schaefer is credited as well). The drummer is Nick Fatool. The trumpet solo is by Uan Rasey. The tenor saxophone solo is by Babe Russin. The trombone solo is played by Hoyt Bohannon. And the orchestrator was Skip Martin.
Live renditions:
Here's Garland at Carnegie Hall in April 1961...
Here's Garland on TV in 1962...
And here's Garland in February 1964...
