Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)

Subject: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Oct 14 - 03:40 PM

Lyr. Add: ISLE OF CAPRI
Wilhelm Grosz, music; Jimmie Kennedy, lyrics; 1934

Somewhere far away, over Naples Bay,
I heard a quaint lover's story,
Its magic thrill holds a spell on me still,
It's a story old, and that's been sadly told
Down by the shore in the moonlight
How love began for a girl and a man.

'Twas on the Isle of Capri that I found her,
Beneath the shade of an old walnut tree.
Oh, I can still see the flowers blooming 'round her,
Where we met on the Isle of Capri.

She was as sweet as the rose of the dawning
But somehow fate hadn't meant her for me.
And tho' I sailed with the tide in the morning,
Still my heart's on the Isle of Capri.

Summertime was nearly over,
Blue Italian skies above,
I said, "Lady, I'm a rover,
Can you spare a sweet word of love?"
She whispered softly, " 'Tis best not to linger."
Then as I kissed her hand I could see
She wore a plain golden ring on her finger,
'Twas goodbye to the Isle of Capri.

Ray Noble, vocal Al Bowlly
http://www.songlyrics.com/ray-noble/isle-of-capri-lyrics/

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 13 Oct 14 - 12:26 PM

I can just remember this song being popular, a few years before WWii. My mother sang it to me in my very early childhood. It was recorded by, among others, the great Gracie Fields, who famously lived on the Isle.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri
From: MartinRyan
Date: 13 Oct 14 - 12:31 PM

Wrote a number of well-known songs, of course -


Click here

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri
From: meself
Date: 13 Oct 14 - 01:24 PM

Here is a really nice rendition by one Al Bowlly (course the only other rendition I've ever heard is my mother's!). For those not familiar with the melody. Note that Mr Bowlly has dispensed with the intro.

Great guitar-playing, and the piano rocks at one point ....

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Oct 14 - 02:47 PM

The introduction was left out by most vocalists. Gracie Fields moved it to the middle of the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: mayomick
Date: 13 Oct 14 - 03:19 PM

Isn't it roughly the same tune as Red River Valley ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Oct 14 - 06:58 PM

No.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: mayomick
Date: 15 Oct 14 - 02:28 PM

you don't think so ? I always think they sound alike .Maybe it's just my earworm playing me up again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: mayomick
Date: 15 Oct 14 - 02:37 PM

somebody else who thought they sounded alike :

http://books.google.ie/books?id=0L0haTTbKYMC&pg=PA195&lpg=PA195&dq=Isle+of+Capri++red+river+valley&source=bl&ots=1jNIESTKo_&sig=

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Oct 14 - 03:51 PM

The two songs sung at a funeral. I found no comparative remarks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: mayomick
Date: 15 Oct 14 - 04:16 PM

Second and third lines of the google book link , Q .A plowman's whistling is being described :"If you were near it sounded like The Isle of Capri, sometimes Red River Valley" .

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: mayomick
Date: 15 Oct 14 - 04:52 PM

Jimmie Kennedy would have known "Erin's green shore", which shares the Red River tune . Compare these lines :

The maiden I never will forget her
And green was the mantle she wore,
Bound round with shamrocks and roses
That bloom around Erin's green shore.

'Twas on the Isle of Capri that I found her,
Beneath the shade of an old walnut tree.
Oh, I can still see the flowers blooming 'round her,
Where we met on the Isle of Capri.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Oct 14 - 01:30 PM

Too much of a stretch for me. Perhaps someone else will comment.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 16 Oct 14 - 02:31 PM

Similarity of waltz tempo & rhythm; but no great similarity in the actual notes. As I have frequently pointed out, ballad airs are conventional: you can sing any ballad to the tune of any other. The same is true of songs in similar dance tempo as here. But no great similarity that I can hear humming the actual tunes. If you could get the two on sheet music, I think you would find the notation quite different.

And I can't see quite what verbal congruence you claim to find between the two quatrains you quote, mayo.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: mayomick
Date: 21 Oct 14 - 01:08 PM

MGM, Lion the verbal congruence is in :

Oh, I can still see the flowers blooming 'round her,
Where we met on the Isle of Capri

and
Bound round with shamrocks and roses
That bloom around Erin's green shore.

But it doesn't work unless you can hear the tunes in the same way as I do - presumably the way the plowman in the quote confused them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Isle of Capri (Jimmy Kennedy, W. Grosz)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 22 Oct 14 - 12:18 AM

Sheet music from 1934 gives two verses, and only the first line of the first verse matches what is given above. Copyright laws make me loth to post these lyrics myself, but sometimes eBay listings include surprisingly complete sets of photos.

The verse given above is very, though not exactly, like what Gracie Fields sang. (She also sang the chorus from the third person perspective.) I'm curious where it came from.