You're the Top is a 1934 song by Cole Porter from the Broadway musical Anything Goes. It’s a playful list song in which a couple alternately extol each other with grand, humorous superlatives - from the Colosseum to the Louvre to the Mona Lisa’s smile and Gandhi - creating a rapid-fire chorus of compliments. Porter reportedly wrote it in Paris during a dinner at Le Bœuf sur le toit after a word game with Lela Emery. The best-selling version was Paul Whiteman’s Victor recording, which reached the top five, and Porter’s own 1934 recording with piano appears on Cole Porter: A Centennial Collection (2007). The British version of Anything Goes featured lyrics rewritten by P. G. Wodehouse. The tune remains a Broadway show tune with jazz influences and became one of Porter’s most celebrated songs, spawning numerous parodies in its day.
