Cool (West Side Story song)
"Cool" is a song from the 1957 musical West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein composed the music and Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics. This song is known for its fugal treatment of a jazz figure, described by one writer as "possibly the most complex instrumental music heard on Broadway to date".In 2011, actor Harry Shum Jr. performed the song, as his character Mike Chang from TV series Glee, in the third episode of season 3, "Asian F".
An episode of Animaniacs features a parody version as "Coo Bird" sung by Bobby of The Goodfeathers. The song is also parodied in the Flight of the Conchords episode The Tough Brets with the song "Stay Cool, Bret".
The Castle episode "Cool Boys" has Richard Castle and Detective Slaughter sing it to distract some criminals holding them at gunpoint.
British sketch show Horrible Histories parodied this song as a song about the English Civil War.
In Season three, episode ten of “The West Wing”, White House Press Secretary CJ Cregg uses the opening bars and lyrics of “Cool” to stop Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn during a tirade about an ex employee.
