Lyr Req: Dinner for One Please James (Michael Carr

Subject: Lyr Req: Dinner fir One, James *Cole or Sinatra
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 12:25 PM

Guest James requested lyrics for this song in a thread on another song.
Perhaps someone can help him, since I can't find the lyrics with super search.

Not the traditional television play- we have several threads on that classic.- but the pop song.
Cole, Sinatra and Hank Williams(!?) have done it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dinner fir One, James *Cole or Sinatra
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 02:19 PM

I'll post them in a short while if noone comes up with them before.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dinner fir One, James *Cole or Sinatra
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 02:23 PM

A quick look at the web shows the lyrics withoug the verse appear in several places eg Dinner For One Please James - Cole.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dinner fir One, James *Cole or Sinatra
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 02:49 PM

Thanks, Mick, I think that is the one he was looking for. "lyrics without the verse" ?? I may have missed something here.

I had to rush and didn't look any farther that Mudcat's supersearch.
(His request was in 7756, My Home's in Montana)

Subject: ADDPOP: Dinner for One Please James (Michael Carr)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 02:49 PM

Here are the lyrics Mick linked to:

Dinner for One Please James
(words and music by Michael Carr, 1935)

Dinner for one please, James,
Madam will not be dining.
Yes, you may bring the wine in,
Love plays such funny games.

Dinner for one please, James,
Close Madam's room, we've parted.
Please, don't look so downhearted,
Love plays such funny games.

Seems my best friend told her of another.
I had no chance to deny.
You know there has never been another,
Someday she'll find out the lie.

Maybe she's not to blame,
Leave me with silent hours.
No, don't move her favorite flowers,
Dinner for one please, James.


Source: The Ultimate Fake Book - Hal Leonard, 1994

One shortcoming of fakebooks is that they rarely include the verse. And as Mick explains in different words, "the verse" is different from "the verses." "The verse" is an introduction, almost a recitative in style. I can never get the melody of the verse down for most of thse songs, so I skip it.

Subject: Lyr Add: DINNER FOR ONE PLEASE JAMES
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 03:20 PM

Q - in standards there's usually a short piece at the start of a song before the bit everyone knows comes along. It's normally called the verse and is often omitted. Think of Gershwin's A Foggy Day: everyone knows it from A foggy day in London town, ...", but the song actually start with: I was a stranger in the city... to a tune that nobody knows! - that's the bit called the verse (it's usually a more complicated tune than the bit everyone remembers).

Anyway, enough digression! As would happen, I couldn't find my words in a song folder (I do sing them, but wanted to check against the original I had), so I thought I'd get them off a CD to hand that I knew had them - jazz guitarist Marty Grosz. Sady, he omits the verse too, singing a version very close to the Nat Cole version. But he does include a bit of his typical patter.

So I had to go back to an LP - Six Hands In Tempo, who do have the verse. Both versions are otherwise similar to the Cole version, but I give both below out of interest.

I've always loved this song, for no obvious reason (and I did see Marty Grosz do it in his own laid back style at Pizza Express in Dean Street, London, many years ago).

Mick

---

DINNER FOR ONE, PLEASE, JAMES
(Michael Carr)

  Patter:
  "Dinner is served, sir. Will madam be joining you as usual my Lord?"
  "No, I'm afraid she's split"
  "But cook has made her favourite dish, sir, the roast fore-leg of quail in aspic"
  "Ah, never mind, just bring me a pastrami on rye and hold the mayo"
  "Very good, my Lord"


Dinner for one, please, James,
Madam will not be dining.
Yes, you may bring the wine in, bring it on in
Love plays such funny games.

Dinner for one, please, James,
Close madame's room, we've parted.
Aw, Please, don't look so, so downhearted,
Love plays such funny games.

  Bridge:
  Seems my best friend told her of another,
  I had no chance to deny.
  Now, you know there has never been another,
  Someday she'll find out the lie.

Maybe she's not to blame,
Leave me with silent hours.
Don't move her favorite flowers,
Dinner for one, please, James.

  Break

  Seems my best friend told her of another,
  I had no chance to deny.
  You know there has never been another,
  Someday she'll find out the lie.

Maybe she's not to blame,
Leave me with silent hours. Get out of here!
Don't move her favorite flowers, Don't do it!
Dinner for one Take the rest of the night off, James
Hotdog and bun,
Oh, dinner for one, please, James.

Source: Marty Grosz and Destiny's Tots, CD: Songs I Learned At My Mother's Knee And Other Low Joints.

---

DINNER FOR ONE, PLEASE, JAMES
(Michael Carr)

  Verse:
  James has been butler to Mister B.
  For fifty years come August three,
  He still remembers the night of his master's tragedy.
  Master's best friend was Mister J.
  James didn't like him from the first day
  He knows his type, and the games they play.
  James had laid dinner as usual for two,
  The air was as heavy as lead.
  Master came down with a tear in his eye
  And he tried hard to smile as he said:

Dinner for one please, James,
Madam will not be dining.
Yes, you may bring the wine in,
Dinner for one, please, James

Dinner for one, please, James,
Madam and I have parted.
No, don't look so broken-hearted
Love plays such funny games.

  Bridge:
  My best friend told her of another,
  I had no chance to deny.
  You know there has never been another,
  Someday she'll find out the lie.

Maybe she's not to blame,
Left me with silent hours.
No, don't move her favorite flowers,
Dinner for one, please, james.

  Break

  My best friend told her of another,
  I had no chance to deny.
  You know there has never been another,
  Someday she'll find out the lie.

Maybe she's not to blame,
Left me with silent hours.
No, don't move her favorite flowers,
Dinner for one, please, James.

Source: Six Hands In Tempo, LP All In Good Time

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Dinner for One, James *Cole or Sinatra
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 04:42 PM

Thanks for your work in getting the 'verse'. I remember the song but the words departed my brain long ago. A golden one.