How Long Has This Been Going On? - Wikipedia

Song composed by George and Ira Gershwin For other uses, see How Long Has This Been Going On (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "How Long Has This Been Going On?" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

"How Long Has This Been Going On?"
Song
Written	George and Ira Gershwin
Published	1928
Composer	George Gershwin
Lyricist	Ira Gershwin

“How Long Has This Been Going On?” is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, for the musical Funny Face in 1927.[1]

History

[edit]

The song was published in 1927 by the New World Music Corporation (plate N.W. 59-4) with Smarty, the early title of Funny Face, on the cover.[2] In the tryouts for the show, which opened in Philadelphia on 11 October 1927, it was a duet for the characters of Peter (Stanley Ridges) and Frankie (Adele Astaire).[3]

According to Ira Gershwin in his book Lyrics on Several Occasions, after the premiere of Funny Face in Philadelphia he received a call from the then professional manager of Shapiro, Bernstein and Co. asking him to remove the song. When Gershwin asked why, the manager replied that the song “[d]oesn't mean anything ... Well, we've bought a song with the same title and we're about to publish it. Yours doesn't get you anywhere, so how about taking it out of the show?” The song was dropped, as Ira Gershwin wrote: “Well, he had his wish. A couple of weeks later on the road (either in Atlantic City or Washington) 'How Long...' was out, replaced by 'He Loves and She Loves' (not as good a song as the former, but one that managed to get over).” “He Loves and She Loves” remained in Funny Face throughout its Broadway run.[4]

“How Long Has This Been Going On?” was included the next year in the musical Rosalie (1928), recast as a solo number and sung by Bobbe Arnst as Mary O'Brien.[5][6] The lyrics used as first released by Gershwin started with the introductory verse: “As a tot, when I trotted in little velvet panties, / I was kissed by my sisters, my cousins, and my aunties. / Sad to tell, it was hell, an inferno worse than Dante's.” In the subsequent version of the lyrics as performed by Ella Fitzgerald ten years later, the lyrics of this introductory verse were changed to the melancholy reflections of a worker in evening “bazaars” reflecting on the differences between kisses for money and romantic kisses from someone with emotional ties, which had previously eluded her. She reflects with “salty tears” about the differences between the two types of kisses.[7]

The introductory verse as performed by Fitzgerald was:

'Neath the stars, at bazaars Often I've had to caress men Five or ten, dollars then, I'd collect from all those yes-men Don't be sad, I must add, that they meant no more than chess-men Darling, can't you see? 'Twas for charity? Though these lips have made slips, it was never really serious Who'd have thought, I'd be brought to a state that's so delirious?[8]

In the original Gershwin version of the song, somewhat more upbeat, it is sung by a young woman comparing kisses among family members and friends at holidays, to how different they turn out to be when experienced while expressing romantic affections; she is surprised to find that romantic kisses are very different. The two verses describe her previous negative experiences of kissing: first the childhood attentions of older female relatives, and second while working in a kissing booth. The two choruses describe the excitement of then experiencing a first romantic kiss, and regret at not having experienced it before: “I could cry salty tears; where have I been all these years? / Little wow, tell me now, how long has this been going on?”[9]

Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1955[10] for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the box set The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56) issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009.[11] Audrey Hepburn sang it in the 1957 film Funny Face.

External links

[edit]

• Original sheet music (see above under "History"). Digitized copy in the Lest S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Sheridan Libraries and University Museums, Johns Hopkins University.

Sources

[edit]

• Gershwin, Ira (1959). Lyrics on Several Occasions (First ed.). New York: Knopf. OCLC 538209.
• Kimball, Robert (1993). The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin (First ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-55651-8.

References

[edit]

1. ^ How Long Has This Been Going On?, 2020-03-13, retrieved 2023-01-27
2. ^ "How Long Has This Been Going On?". The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection. Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries and University Museums. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
3. ^ Kimball 1993, pp. 102, 109.
4. ^ Gershwin 1959, p. 279–280; internal quotation marks omitted in first quotation.
5. ^ "Internet Broadway Database". ibdb.com. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
6. ^ Kimball 1993, pp. 109, 114.
7. ^ "How Long Has This Been Going On". Sierra Music Publications, Inc. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
8. ^ "Lyrics for Ella Fitzgerald version of How Long Has This Been Going On?". Archived from the original on 2016-12-28.
9. ^ How Long (Has This Been Going On) - Single by Players, 2017-12-29, retrieved 2023-01-28
10. ^ "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
11. ^ "allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved October 9, 2017.

• "How Long Has This Been Going On?" at jazzstandards.com

v t e George Gershwin
Albums	Gershwin Plays Gershwin: The Piano Rolls
Ballets	An American in Paris Gershwin Piano Concerto Three Preludes Who Cares?
Operas	Blue Monday (1922) Porgy and Bess (1935)
Musicals	Half-Past Eight La La Lucille Morris Gest's Midnight Whirl George White's Scandals (1920–1924, including Blue Monday) A Dangerous Maid Our Nell The Rainbow Sweet Little Devil Primrose Lady, Be Good! Tell Me More Tip-Toes Song of the Flame Oh, Kay! Strike Up the Band Funny Face Rosalie Treasure Girl Show Girl Girl Crazy Of Thee I Sing Pardon My English Let 'Em Eat Cake
Interpolations	The Passing Show of 1916 Hitchy-Koo of 1918 Ladies First The Lady in Red For Goodness Sake The Sunshine Trail Americana The Show Is On
Films	Delicious Shall We Dance A Damsel in Distress The Goldwyn Follies The Shocking Miss Pilgrim Kiss Me, Stupid
Orchestral works	Rhapsody in Blue (1924) Concerto in F (1925) An American in Paris (1928) Second Rhapsody (1931) Cuban Overture (1932) Strike Up the Band (1934) Hoctor's Ballet (1937)
Piano compositions	Three Preludes (1926) French Ballet Class (1937)
Songs	"Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?" "(I've Got) Beginner's Luck" "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" "Bidin' My Time" "Blah Blah Blah" "Boy Wanted" "Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!" "But Not for Me" "By Strauss" "Clap Yo' Hands" "Do It Again" "Doin' Time" "Embraceable You" "Fascinating Rhythm" "A Foggy Day" "For You, for Me, for Evermore" "Funny Face" "'The Half of It, Dearie' Blues" "He Loves and She Loves" "How Long Has This Been Going On?" "I Can't Be Bothered Now" "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'" "I Got Rhythm" "I Loves You Porgy" "I Was Doing All Right" "I've Got a Crush on You" "Isn't It a Pity?" "It Ain't Necessarily So" "Just Another Rhumba" "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" "Let's Kiss and Make Up" "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)" "Looking for a Boy" "Lorelei" "Love Is Here to Stay" "Love Is Sweeping the Country" "Love Walked In" "The Man I Love" "My Cousin in Milwaukee" "My Man's Gone Now" "My One and Only" "Nice Work If You Can Get It" "Of Thee I Sing" "Oh, Lady Be Good!" "Oh, So Nice!" "The Real American Folk Song (is a Rag)" "'S Wonderful" "Sam and Delilah" "Slap That Bass" "Somebody from Somewhere" "Somebody Loves Me" "Someone to Watch Over Me" "Soon" "Stairway to Paradise" "Stiff Upper Lip" "Strike Up the Band" "Summertime" "Swanee" "That Certain Feeling" "They All Laughed" "They Can't Take That Away from Me" "Things Are Looking Up" "Tra-la-la" "Treat Me Rough" "Walking the Dog" "Who Cares?" "You've Got What Gets Me"
Tribute albums	Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin By George Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book Ella Sings Gershwin Gershwin Live! Gershwin's World The Glory of Gershwin Ira, George and Joe Nice Work If You Can Get It Oscar Peterson Plays the George Gershwin Songbook Red Hot + Rhapsody: The Gershwin Groove Rosemary Clooney Sings the Lyrics of Ira Gershwin
Related articles	Gershwin Prize Ira Gershwin (brother) Arthur Gershwin (brother) Frances Gershwin (sister) Gershwin Theatre
List of compositions by George Gershwin Category:George Gershwin

Authority control databases
International	VIAF GND
National	United States France BnF data
Other	MusicBrainz work