Stairway to Paradise


"Stairway to Paradise", also known as "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise", is a song composed in 1922 by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Buddy DeSylva for the Broadway revue George White's Scandals. Popular recordings in 1922–23 were by Carl Fenton; Paul Whiteman; and by Ben Selvin.
It was more famously performed in the 1951 American film musical An American in Paris by Georges Guétary. In An American in Paris, it was entitled "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise".
The song is heard in the 2004 Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, being sung by Rufus Wainwright, in a scene at the Cocoanut Grove night club set in 1927.
The lyrics make it clear that the "steps" on the stairway are dance steps.

Other recordings