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So Near and yet So Far
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"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]

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]
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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]
References
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