"Anything Goes" is a song that plays on Galaxy News Radio in Fallout 3, on Diamond City Radio in Fallout 4 and on Appalachia Radio in Fallout 76.
The song originates from the musical of the same name, which features songs by Cole Porter. "Anything Goes," as well as several other songs, were originally recorded in 1934 by the composer himself for Victor Records and had long been regarded as "historical curiosities." As Cole Porter was described as a "horrible piano player," the track was overdubbed in 2004 with Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks to provide a "stylish, modern dance orchestra of the art deco era."
"Anything Goes" and "You're the Top" were both overdubbed in this manner for the 2004 album It's De-Lovely - The Authentic Cole Porter Collection. It coincided with the play's 70th anniversary, as well as the release of the Cole Porter biographical film, De-Lovely.
Background
This is the title song from the musical Anything Goes, by Cole Porter (1934). The musical was written in the depths of the 1930s U.S. depression. Millionaires had become penniless, but not everyone had - and everyone still loved thrilling entertainment. Echoes from this musical can be heard in such places as the movies Blazing Saddles and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The two recording sessions included the following personnel:
November 27, 1934 - Victor Studios #3, New York, NY - (mono)[1]
Cole Porter (vocals and piano)[1]
May 4, 2004 - Clinton Recording Studio, New York, NY - (stereo)
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks (backing instrumentals), Barry Feldman (reissue and overdub session producer), Troy Halderson (Clinton recording engineer), Doug Pomeroy (CD mastering)
Jazz critic, Will Friedwald, described the session in the liner notes.[2]
But at the same time, this is authentic Cole Porter, and thanks to producer Barry Feldman and bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Vince Giordano, the Cole Porter Victor tracks are no longer mere historical curiosities. Now we can hear what Porter would have sounded like had he taken his singing seriously enough to work with a stylish, modern dance orchestra of the art deco era. To make sure the band parts would have an absolutely authentic mid-'30s sound, Mr. Giordano unearthed six different charts on each song, including four from the band book of the period bandleader Arnold Johnson (who, coincidentally, had employed a young Harold Arlen as arranger and vocalist a few years earlier). Mr. Giordano and his aide-de-camp banjo-guitarist John Gill combined aspects of the different arrangements, and then finessed them to fit around the Porter recordings.
Lyrics
Times have changed,
And we've often rewound the clock
Since the Puritans got a shock
When they landed on Plymouth Rock.
If today
Any shock they should try to stem
'Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock,
Plymouth Rock would land on them.
In olden days, a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking,
But now, God knows,
Anything goes.
Good authors, too, who once knew better words
Now only use four-letter words
writing prose.
Anything goes.
If driving fast cars you like,
If low bars you like,
If old hymns you like,
If bare limbs you like,
If Mae West you like,
Or me undressed you like,
Why, nobody will oppose.
When every night, the set that's smart is intruding
In nudist parties
In studios.
Anything goes.
When Missus Ned McLean (God bless her)
Can get Russian reds to "yes" her,
Then I suppose
Anything goes.
When Rockefeller still can hoard en-
Ough money to let Max Gordon
Produce his shows,
Anything goes.
The world has gone mad today,
And good's bad today,
And black's white today,
And day's night today,
And that gent today
You gave a cent today
Once had several chateaux.
When folks who still can ride in Jitneys
Find out Vanderbilts and Whitneys
Lack baby clo'es,
Anything goes.
When Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction
Instruct Anna Sten in diction,
Then Anna shows
Anything goes.
When you hear that Lady Mendl standing up
Now does a handspring landing up-
On her toes,
Anything goes.
Just think of those shocks you've got,
And those knocks you've got,
And those blues you've got,
From those news you've got,
And those pains you've got,
If any brains you've got
From those little radios.
So Missus R., with all her trimmins,
Can broadcast a bed from Simmons,
'Cause Franklin knows
Anything goes.