You’re the Nile,
You’re the Tower of Pisa,
You’re the smile
On the Mona Lisa….
But if, Baby, I’m the bottom you’re the top!

These lines come from Cole Porter’s song “You’re the Top,” written for the Broadway musical *Anything Goes* (1934). In the number, two characters trade witty, rapidly escalating compliments built from contemporary celebrities, luxury brands, and famous landmarks—an archetypal Porter technique that turns name-dropping into flirtation. The quoted portion is part of the song’s catalog of hyperbolic comparisons (“You’re the Nile… the Tower of Pisa… the smile on the Mona Lisa”), culminating in the punchline-like romantic claim that the pair fit together perfectly: if one is “the bottom,” the other must be “the top.” The humor depends on rhythm, rhyme, and the era’s shared cultural reference points.

Porter’s lyric piles up playful, high-culture and world-travel images (“the Nile,” “the Tower of Pisa,” “the smile / On the Mona Lisa”) to flatter the beloved through witty comparison. The humor comes from the escalating catalog of famous “tops” and icons, culminating in the punchline: romantic compatibility framed as a comic, almost acrobatic pairing—“if I’m the bottom you’re the top.” The line exemplifies Porter’s signature sophistication: urbane references, internal rhyme, and a risqué double entendre delivered with breezy elegance. Beneath the joke is a simple declaration of devotion—whatever the speaker lacks, the beloved supplies—expressed through a topsy-turvy metaphor that turns admiration into flirtation.