04 Aug 13 - 03:30 PM (#3545538) Subject: Lyr Add: A PRETTY GIRL IS LIKE A MELODY From: Q (Frank Staplin) A PRETTY GIRL IS LIKE A MELODY Irving Berlin, 1919 I have an ear for music And I have an eye for a maid I link a pretty girlie With each pretty tune that's played They go together like sunny weather Goes with the month of May I've studied girls and music So I'm qualified to say: REFRAIN A pretty girl is like a melody That haunts you night and day Just like the strain of a haunting refrain She'll start upon a marathon And run around your brain. You can't escape, she's in your memory By morning, night and noon She will leave you and then come back again A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune. PATTER "The Humoresque" While a string orchestra played This lovely tune I met a maid And from the start she set my brain a-whirl But alas we parted soon And now I love to hear this tune For it reminds me of that certain girl. "Mendelssohn's Spring Song" Once I met a girlie at the close of spring I began to woo her and she answered "Yes" that summer But when I went out to buy the wedding ring She left me flat and ran off with a drummer. Messina's Elegy" While the cello moaned tenderly this melody She said to me "I love you" When the cello fellow was through he said "Adieu" She said "Me too" and flew. "Offenbach's Barcarolle from "Tales of Hoffman"" At the opera she said "My dear, I love you with all my soul" While the singers filled up my ear With Offenbach's "Barcarolle" When the music died away her love for me grew cold And I found she told better tales Than old Hoffman told. "Schubert's Serenade" Once to a maid, this sweet serenade I sang with feeling and grace I vocalized just how much I prized Her form and beautiful face Sad to say the maiden's husband Came with a spade and ruined my serenade. "Schumann's Traumerei" We met one evening at a dance The band was playing, I was saying Give me just a chance She told me of a boy in France And then she vanished, and it Banished my romance. |
04 Aug 13 - 05:59 PM (#3545565) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: A PRETTY GIRL IS LIKE A MELODY From: Joe_F The wonderful spoonerism, "A gritty pearl is just like a titty prune", is due to one Robert Morse. |
04 Aug 13 - 09:00 PM (#3545623) Subject: RE: ADD: A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody (I. Berlin) From: Joe Offer songfacts.com has information about this and other Irving Berlin songs. This song was written for the musical revue, Ziegfield Follies of 1919. It also appeared in a number of musical films:
It's my understanding that the Ziegfield shows used songs like this when they had displays of women in various stages of undress (i.e., somewhat more clothing than people wear on the beach nowadays). If the women moved, that was grounds for arrest. I haven't found a recording of the verses shown above. Anybody know of one? I picture a "sweet young thing" reciting the "patter" verses as the display changed, but they were originally sung in Atlantic City by Ziegfield performer John Steel. |
04 Aug 13 - 10:11 PM (#3545638) Subject: RE: ADD: A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody (I. Berlin) From: Joe Offer A PRETTY GIRL IS LIKE A MELODY (Irving Berlin, 1919) VERSE 1 I have an ear for music, And I have an eye for a maid; I link a pretty girlie With each pretty tune that's played. They go together like sunny weather Goes with the month of May; I've studied girls and music, So I'm qualified to say: CHORUS: A pretty girl is like a melody That haunts you night and day; Just like the strain of a haunting refrain, She'll start upon a marathon And run around your brain. You can't escape, she's in your memory By morning, night and noon; She will leave you and then Come back again; A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune. VERSE 2 Most every year we're haunted By some little popular tune; Then someone writes another - The old one's forgotten soon. A pretty maiden with beauty laden Is like that kind of song: Just when you think you love her, Another one comes along. CHORUS Notes: In 1934 on the Good Gulf program, Berlin said, "One of my best songs was written because the late Flo Ziegfield needed a song to show off five of his most beautiful showgirls....one day Mr. Ziegfield called me into his office and showed me designs for costumes to be worn by five of his famous showgirls...Then he said, 'All I need is an idea to introduce them.' Well, I finally hit on the notion of having each girl represent one of the old melody classics, such as Mendelssohn's "Spring Song," Schubert's "Serenade," etc. The last thing that was thought of was an original song to introduce the old melodies. But I finally wrote one." The song became the theme song of the Ziegfield Follies. Irving Berlin later acknowledged (1954) that the song became a melody for stripteasers to disrobe to.
-Joe Offer- |
05 Aug 13 - 11:58 AM (#3545783) Subject: RE: ADD: A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody (I. Berlin) From: Q (Frank Staplin) I forgot to post the source for the "Patter" to "A Pretty Girl....." www.oldielyrics.com. |