So Near and yet So Far

For the 1912 film, see So Near, yet So Far.

"So Near and yet So Far" is a song written by Cole Porter, for the 1941 film You'll Never Get Rich, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire, and accompanied a dance with Astaire and Rita Hayworth, choreographed by Robert Alton.^[1] Astaire and Hayworth's performance was significant as the only occasion where Astaire's female dancing partner led the choreography of the dance.^[2] Porter's biographer, William McBrien described the song as "beautiful and highly successful".^[3]

A 1941 recording by Fred Astaire

Priscilla Peña Ovalle in her book Dance and the Hollywood Latina describes the song as a "latune", a "tune with a Latin beat and an English-language lyric" that was a "U.S. consumer-friendly approximation" of an Afro-Cuban rumba.^[4] Theorist Gustavo Perez Firmat discussed "So Near and yet So Far" in his book The Havana Habit and described it as "the most elegant rumba ever captured on film".^[5]

Notable recordings

• Eugenie Baird with Tony Pastor (1941 - Bluebird B-11267)^[6]
• Bobby Short – Bobby Short Loves Cole Porter (Atlantic, 1972)^[7]
• Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Loves Cole (Atlantic, 1972)^[8]