Heat Wave Lyrics — As Thousands Cheer

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• Work: As Thousands Cheer (1933), a Broadway revue shaped like a newspaper, with sketches by Moss Hart and songs by Irving Berlin.
• Original performer: Introduced in the 1933 production by Ethel Waters, billed as a featured star of the show.
• Where it appears: The show turns a weather headline into a full number, staged as a report that catches fire on the spot.
• Afterlife: It became a standard with major covers, and it later showed up in multiple Hollywood musicals as a featured song.

As Thousands Cheer (1933) - stage revue - non-diegetic. The number is built from a simple gag with serious bite: a weather item becomes big theatre. That premise lets Berlin do what he does best, making the everyday sound like an event without pretending it is deeper than it is. The lyric is all motion and temperature. The melody keeps pushing forward, like the city itself is sweating and refusing to slow down.

I love how the song sells urgency without shouting. It is bright, danceable, and designed to travel. You can stage it as a newsroom-adjacent report, a nightclub feature, or a film production number with choreography doing the heavy lifting. According to the IBDB production listing, Waters is explicitly tied to the in-show segment often labeled "Heat Wave Hits New York," which tells you the original intent: a headline becomes a performance engine.

• Key takeaways:
• It is a headline song that behaves like a pop hit, which is why it escaped the revue so quickly.
• The best performances treat it like storytelling with swing, not like a power-ballad showstopper.
• Its structure is friendly to rearrangement, from dance band to later stage adaptations.

Creation History

As Thousands Cheer opened at the Music Box Theatre on September 30, 1933, with Berlin writing music and lyrics and Hart providing the sketch frame. The show was designed as a topical "front page" revue, and "Heat Wave" is the cleanest example of that concept: weather becomes spectacle. A later reference point for many listeners is the 1998 New York revival cast recording, where the number is preserved in a compact, scene-forward reading that still feels built for bodies in motion.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

A heat wave hits town. The lyric reports it like news, then leans into the citywide mood shift: everything feels hotter, looser, more charged. In the revue context, the "plot" is the transformation itself - a bulletin becomes a dance, a fact becomes a feeling.

Song Meaning

The meaning is physical first: a sweltering week flips the social atmosphere. People act bolder, nights stretch longer, and the singer describes the heat as if it is a character walking the streets. In the larger As Thousands Cheer framework, it is also a comment on what newspapers sell: not just information, but a shared sensation. The song turns climate into culture in under three minutes.

Annotations

"The weather report was turned into a song."

Show synopsis note

That single line explains why the number still feels modern. It is content repurposing before anyone called it that: take a mundane feed of facts and find the hook that makes people lean in.

"Introduced in the show by Ethel Waters."

Song reference summary

This is not just a credit. It suggests an original performance style that values clarity and charisma, with the singer steering the room like a bandleader. According to Yale Library material on Waters and the revue, her star billing in this production was a notable Broadway moment, which adds weight to how this number was received in 1933.

Style, rhythm, and cultural touchpoints

The writing fuses theatre punch with dance-band readiness. The rhythm is steady enough for choreography, but the phrasing stays talky, like someone narrating the street scene while the orchestra grins behind them. The cultural touchpoint is the very phrase "heat wave" as a communal headline: everyone feels it, everyone talks about it, and it becomes a shared excuse for acting different.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

• Song: Heat Wave
• Artist: As Thousands Cheer cast (originally introduced by Ethel Waters)
• Featured: Solo feature with supporting ensemble or dancers (varies by production)
• Composer: Irving Berlin
• Producer: Bruce Kimmel (1998 New York revival cast recording)
• Release Date: September 30, 1933 (Broadway opening context); January 1, 1998 (1998 cast album platform metadata)
• Genre: Musical theatre standard, traditional pop
• Instruments: Theatre orchestra or dance-band arrangement (varies by version)
• Label: Concord Theatricals / Concord (1998 cast album release metadata)
• Mood: Hot-weather flirtation, playful urgency
• Length: About 2:52 (1998 cast recording listing)
• Track #: 3 (1998 cast recording track listing)
• Language: English
• Album (if any): As Thousands Cheer (1998 Off-Broadway Cast Recording)
• Music style: Headline-to-song show tune that adapts easily to pop arrangements
• Poetic meter: Accentual, performance-led stresses with patter-like clarity

Frequently Asked Questions

Who introduced the song on Broadway?

Ethel Waters introduced it in the 1933 production of As Thousands Cheer.

What is the in-show setup?

The revue treats the weather as news, then lets the report bloom into a performance number.

Why did it become a standard outside the theatre?

It has a clean hook, a flexible structure, and lyrics that read like conversation, so bandleaders and vocalists could reshape it without breaking it.

Is the famous film version the same as the stage song?

Film performances keep Berlin's core song, but the staging and presentation can change a lot, especially in 1950s Hollywood where choreography and camera become part of the arrangement.

Which films featured it?

It is documented in several films including Alexander's Ragtime Band, Blue Skies, and There's No Business Like Show Business, with additional brief uses noted in other titles.

Does it have official single certifications?

No widely cited certification record is associated with the 1933 standard, and the song's legacy is tracked more through recordings, film use, and repertoire status.

What is the most reliable modern reference recording for the show context?

The 1998 New York revival cast recording is an accessible scene-based reference for how the number functions within the revue.

Is it connected to later Berlin stage adaptations?

Yes. Later Berlin projects repurposed and reimagined his catalog, and this number has been adapted for newer stage contexts.

Awards and Chart Positions

The song predates the modern pop chart era, but collector-style chart histories still track its early impact. Joel Whitburn's reference work Pop Memories 1890-1954 is commonly cited for noting multiple 1933 charting versions, including recordings associated with Ethel Waters and major dance-band orchestras. In theatre terms, the bigger "award" is endurance: it is one of the numbers most often singled out as a breakout standard from the revue.

Additional Info

The film history is wild in the best way. The song is listed in multiple major studio pictures across decades, and the 1954 performance in There's No Business Like Show Business became its own pop-culture event. One contemporary reaction survives in print through secondary reporting: a quoted complaint from television host Ed Sullivan about the number's taste level is often repeated in summaries of the film's reception, which tells you how strongly that scene landed at the time.

On the stage-history side, the song also works as a quiet record of the revue's format. As stated in the Yale Library online exhibit about Ethel Waters in the 1930s, the show was structured like a musical newspaper addressing contemporary topics, and this number is the clearest "weather becomes theatre" example of that mission.

Key Contributors

How to Sing Heat Wave

Different editions and recordings sit in different keys and tempos, so treat "best" as "best for your voice." Still, a few practical anchors show up across reputable sheet-music listings and stage-arrangement documentation.

• Starting point key: Many published vocal editions list G major as an original published key for a common arrangement.
• Example vocal range: A widely sold vocal arrangement lists D4 to E5 for voice and piano format.
• Tempo feel: Mid-tempo swing works well for diction, with the groove doing the heat more than sheer speed.

1. Tempo first: Set a moderate tempo where you can articulate every consonant. The lyric is half the choreography.
2. Diction: Keep vowels forward and clean. Let the "t" and "d" sounds snap lightly so the report-like phrasing reads.
3. Breath plan: Mark breaths like a speaker would. Short phrases want quick refills, not one heroic inhale.
4. Flow and rhythm: Aim for a talk-sung style. If you over-sing, the number can lose its wink.
5. Accents: Pop key words with timing, not volume. Think of the lyric as headline copy that suddenly becomes irresistible.
6. Ensemble and doubles: If your production has dancers or a backing chorus, coordinate cutoffs and syncopations so the groove stays tight.
7. Mic and space: In a mic'd setting, keep the delivery intimate and let the band swing. In an unmic'd room, focus on crisp projection rather than force.
8. Pitfalls: Rushing the lyric, swallowing consonants, and treating it like a slow torch song. It is heat with momentum.

Sources

Sources: IBDB production listing for As Thousands Cheer, Wikipedia entry for Heat Wave, Wikipedia entry for As Thousands Cheer, Yale Library online exhibit on Ethel Waters in the 1930s, Discogs listing for the 1998 cast recording, Apple Music metadata for the 1998 cast recording, Concord Theatricals show page, Musicnotes sheet music listing for vocal range and published key, film listings for Alexander's Ragtime Band, Blue Skies, and There's No Business Like Show Business.