The 1933 film Love Me Tonight, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, introduced the song “Lover,” which was sung by MacDonald. In his book Can’t Help Singin’ Gerald Mast claims that the score by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart “...is one of the best original scores ever written for films.” Further praise comes from Clive Hirschhorn in his book Hollywood Musicals where he says that the movie ...“remains one of the most enchanting and cohesive musicals in the history of the genre.”

The film is a fairy tale with MacDonald as a princess who falls in love with a tailor played by Chevalier. The standard “Isn’t It Romantic” was also introduced in the film as well as “Mimi” which became a signature song for Chevalier. Despite the manner in which it was featured in the movie, the lovely waltz “Lover” still managed to chart and to maintain its popularity over generations:

• Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (1933, Jack Fulton, vocal, seven weeks, topping at #3)
• Guy Lombardo and His Orchestra (1944, instrumental, five weeks, topping at #8)
• Greta Keller (1933, two weeks, topping at #15)
• Les Paul (1948, instrumental, four weeks, topping at #21)
• Peggy Lee (1952, 13 weeks, topping at #3)

In his autobiography Musical Stages Richard Rodgers claims that the song was treated as a joke and never reprised. “Jeanette sang it in an outdoors scene while riding in a horse-drawn cart. Still yearning for an unknown lover, our lonely princess sings the romantic lyric with sincerity, except that certain words and phrases are directed to her occasionally frisky horse. As, for example:

Lover, when you find me

Will you blind me with your glow?

Make me cast behind me all my--WHOA!

Rodgers and Hart introduced an unusual aspect to the film explained by David Ewen in his book Great Men of American Popular Song. “Ever concerned with new approaches, they also evolved for this picture a new technique which they called ‘rhythm dialogue,’ in which a musical background was utilized behind spoken dialogue.”

In his book American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 Alec Wilder qualifies his praise for “Lover.” “It’s a fascinating experience, this song. But for the life of me I can’t see why it would be to a non-musician. For it is only a series of chromatic intervals made palatable by means of an interesting chord progression, which, however, once the pattern is established, telegraphs its punches.”

In 1952 singer/songwriter Peggy Lee had a hit with her up-tempo, Latinized version of “Lover” which featured eight percussionists. According to Lee’s 1981 interview with John S. Wilson of the New York Times, Rodgers was said to bemoan Lee’s treatment of his “little waltz.” “But he must have liked it,” Miss Lee said, “because he made it the subject of a lecture in which he made the point that without different interpretations, a song won’t last as long as it otherwise might. And he gave me permission to do any of his songs.” Alec Wilder called Lee’s recording an “...extraordinary, driving almost whiplash version.”

In his 1975 autobiography Musical Stages Rodgers explains his feelings about new interpretations of his work. He cites a song that he and Hart wrote in 1939 called “I Like to Recognize the Tune” which voices objections to the musical distortions then so much a part of pop music because of the swing-band influence. The song was introduced in the 1939 Broadway show, Too Many Girls. “We really had nothing against swing bands per se, but as songwriters we felt it was tough enough for new numbers to catch on as written without being subjected to all kinds of interpretive manhandling that obscured their melodies and lyrics. To me, this was the musical equivalent of bad grammar. On the other hand, once a song has become established I see nothing wrong with taking certain liberties. A singer or an orchestra can add a distinctive, personal touch that actually contributes to a song’s longevity. I can’t say I’m exactly grief-stricken when something I’ve written years before suddenly catches on again because a new interpretation.”

Tony Bennett’s recording of “Lover” includes the seldom heard verse. Ella Fitzgerald, Jackie & Roy, and Anita O’Day featured “Lover” in their tributes to Rodgers and Hart, and it has been popular with big bands as diverse as those of Gene Krupa, Shorty Rogers, and Toshiko Akiyoshi. Jazz stalwarts such as Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker included it in their repertoire, and it has been recorded by contemporary artists such as pianist Bill Charlap, vocalist Jeanie Bryson, saxophonist Kenny Garrett, and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.