Ginger Rogers wrote the song “I Can’t Understand (Why You Can’t Understand Me)” in or before 1936. What I can’t understand is exactly how much she (as well as another occasional songwriter Fred Astaire) knew about songwriting and song structure, but the end result is that it certainly sounds like she knew what she was doing. I initially could only find a rare audio of Ginger singing this song. But after a lot of digging and a bit of luck, I found the sheet music.
On the Parties at Pickfair radio show, Ginger said that Irving Berlin was ready to publish this song once she wrote a verse to it. A verse was finally written, and it was published in 1936 by Irving Berlin Inc. and Chappell & Co. in England, but the song seems to have never been mass-produced and marketed, otherwise it should appear in more online collections. Another sign that the sheet music possibly had a very limited print run and was a “Professional copy” (or “Advance artist copy”) is that the cover art is a generic, blue ink, preprinted cover template, onto which was printed the song title and creator in black ink.
The version of the song that Ginger sang in February of 1936 still had no introductory verse. It consisted only of a chorus in AABA form. The A section has a fun move from the tonic chord of G major to an E-flat major (I-bVI), while the middle-eight B section modulates into the key of B major. These are not typical rookie songwriter moves. Rogers was always found with a ukulele in her hands when she was a young teen, and she was fiercely competitive against a neighbor friend when they both were taking piano lessons. At her recital, Ginger performed Grieg, Chopin, Massenet, and Bach, and later in life, she regretted that she did not keep studying piano for a longer period.
There are three people who reportedly performed this song—all on the radio. Two of the singers were accomplished dancers as well. You may have heard of these singers: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The other performance was by Ginger’s friend, the illustrious Johnny Green, who orchestrated the song for Ginger and had his band play it on air. I have a sneaking suspicion that Green helped Rogers to some degree with writing the verse when the song was published later that year. The verse’s I-I#5-IV-iv chord progression makes me suspicious. The published version also has plenty of lyrical tweaks, though much of her original lyrics remain as she sang them on the radio.
Download the PDF of the simplified sheet music to “I Can’t Understand (Why You Can’t Understand Me)” here:
The Ginger Rogers–Gershwin Connection
Ginger Rogers first met George Gershwin when she auditioned for his 1930 Broadway musical Girl Crazy, and he was at the piano. At 19 years old, she got the lead, got permission from Paramount, and got invited to dine with the Gershwin triumvirate (George, Ira, and Lee) at their Riverside Drive apartment. She said she was greeted “at the door with open arms. The Gershwins couldn’t have been more gracious and hospitable.”
After dinner, they retired to the salon for coffee and listened to George’s impromptu piano performance, after which George said, “Ginger, come sit here beside me. I’ve written a special song for you. I hope you like it.” That song was “But Not for Me,” which was then followed by the first airing of another song she was to sing, “Embraceable You.” Ginger knew this was a hit song!
George proceeded to play two more of her songs from the show: “When It’s Cactus Time in Arizona” and “Could You Use Me.” He played the song “I Got Rhythm” which was for a character whose part had not been cast. Ginger Rogers’ mother later recommended a singer they had heard a while back: Ethel Merman, who would go on to crush the song and launch her career into the big time.
It was in Girl Crazy rehearsals that she first danced with Fred Astaire who had been brought in as a choreography consultant, whom Ginger paid little notice to. She claimed, “There was no reason to be particularly impressed. I honestly didn’t think of him again.”
Since there was no performance on Sundays, Ginger would run into the Gershwins on Saturday nights at NYC’s Mayfair Club, “the place to be seen,” and it was there she also would meet Victor Moore, the Marx Brothers, William Gaxton, Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Buddy DeSylva, Bernard Baruch, Dorothy Parker, Marc Connelly, Moss Hart, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, George S. Kaufman, Donald Ogden Stewart, Harold Ross, and Mayor Jimmy Walker.
Ginger’s dates with Gershwin in Hollywood of 1936 and ‘37 were typically dinner and a movie or a drive to an out-of-the-way restaurant along the beach. On one special night out, Ginger arranged for Fred Astaire and a few mutual friends to meet up with her and Gershwin at the elegant Trocadero nightclub. Having prearranged it all, the band played a chord that got everyone’s attention, Fred and Ginger strode to the dance floor, said some kind words dedicating their dance to Gershwin, and proceeded to wow Gershwin with their pre-arranged dance, their first in public like this.
And if you haven’t heard of the time Ginger invited George to her over-the-top rollerskating party, now’s your chance here.
Ginger’s take on George and Ira deserves her extended quote (again from her autobiography):
“George and Ira complemented each others’ genius. Ira had a deep understanding of human nature and knew everything about people and their passions and feelings; that’s why he wrote so fluently. George was a performer, an actor*, really, who loved more than anything to strut his stuff, and what stuff he had to strut! As long as he had an audience, George was happy.”
The Loves of “One of the Loveliest People in This World”
The lyrics of ”I Can’t Understand” are enjoyable, and I especially appreciate how Ginger Rogers rhymed two 4-syllable words in her original on-air rendition. The sentiment of unrequited love due to her beloved’s thick-headedness is also fun. It also makes one wonder if she had a certain fella in mind while writing this.
In Rogers’ autobiography, Ginger: My Story, she mentions many men she would occasionally go out with, giving the impression that some were more serious than others. The more famous on the list include Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Howard Hughes, Fred Astaire, George Gershwin, Lew Ayers, NYC mayor Jimmy Walker, and Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr..
Some people have speculated that she wrote this song about Fred Astaire himself! Their c.1930 date at The Central Park Casino was described this way in her book: “Inside the car, Fred had me in his arms, and the kiss that we shared in that five minutes would never have passed the Hays Office code.” That’s how you write a tell-all without quite telling all!
Ginger pointed out that Fred made a point to NOT kiss his leading ladies in his films when he was the romantic lead, and her contention was that it was due to his Fred’s wife insisting it be so.
Romance notwithstanding, Ginger did confide that her dance partners whom she rated a ten in her book were Jimmy Stewart, Dennis Morgan, Cary Grant, Hermes Pan, Earl Blackwell, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, and LA lawyer Greg Bautzer. Admittedly, I did not see that last one coming.
What was Ginger Rogers’ allure despite her many talents, successes, and attributes? Her cousin-in-law Bennett Cerf summed her up when she appeared on What’s My Line? this way: “This is a prejudiced opinion, but I would like to tell you, she is one of the loveliest people in this world.” On another episode of the show, she had to lie to Cerf who was a panelist on the show about where she was going that night of the taping, and her ruse, once discovered, compelled Cerf to jokingly call her a “perfidious wench,” which was likely the first and last time that phrase was used on American television.
* George’s 1918 draft registration card lists his occupation as “Actor – composor (sic)”
The photos below show that George Gershwin appears to have been photographed on the set of Shall We Dance when Ginger Rogers sang his song “They All Laughed” in May of 1937. The bottom photo shows how Gershwin and director Mark Sandrich were dressed in hats and jackets that day. Gershwin can be seen in the other photos above and to the left of Mark Sandrich.
Below Left: George Gershwin and Ginger Rogers at a February 8, 1937 reception at L.A.’s Hotel Knickerbocker in honor of composer, pianist, and music patron Gertrude Ross.
Below Right: Amputee Paul Wittgenstein plays piano for Joseph Achron, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Gertrude Ross, and Lyham Noack, Los Angeles, 1934
Gershwin 100 
Did Gershwin celebrate his birthday on September 25 as stated on draft registration card? We’ve been celebrating on the 26th. The photos are fabulous.
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Great question. I do not know, and I never noticed that until you pointed it out.
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No explanation for the photo of “Amputee Paul Wittgenstein” but I know that he lost his arm fighting in WWII and that Ravel wrote for him the “Left Hand Concerto” so he could continue to perform.
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