Lyr Req: Suddenly the setting is changed...

07 May 02 - 01:31 PM (#706025)
Subject: Suddenly the setting is changed...
From: GUEST,plinkaplunk

Does anyone know the name of this song? Some of the lyrics are: Suddenly the setting is changed, I can see water and moonlight gleaming, silver waves on some undiscovered shore Suddenly I see it all change ... your face that I adore

It probably dates from the 40s.

Please email responses to [e-mail]

Thanks! Any help is appreciated!

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07 May 02 - 05:41 PM (#706247)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suddenly the setting is changed...
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)

And the Angels Sing....this title is written on Johnny Mercer's tombstone in Savannah- we saw it when we did our visit there early this spring. On his wife's stone is written, "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby."

Lyrics must be on the DT here, but I know most of them if you have trouble.

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09 May 02 - 09:29 PM (#707800)
Subject: Lyr Add: AND THE ANGELS SING (Mercer, Elman)
From: Jim Dixon

Copied from http://www.thepeaches.com/music/composers/mercer/AndTheAngelsSing.txt

AND THE ANGELS SING
Lyrics by: Johnny Mercer
Music by: Ziggy Elman
Prime Artist: Benny Goodman, 1939
Vocal: Martha Tilton [other sources say Helen Forrest]
Trumpet: Ziggy Elman

VERSE 1: We meet, and the angels sing.
The angels sing the sweetest song I ever heard.
You speak, and the angels sing.
Or am I breathing music into every word?

BRIDGE: Suddenly, the setting is strange.
I can see water and moonlight beaming:
Silver waves that break on some undiscovered shore.
Suddenly, I see it all change:
Long winter nights with the candles gleaming,
Through it all, your face that I adore.

VERSE 2: You smile, and the angels sing.,
And, though it's just a gentle murmur at the start,
We kiss, and the angels sing,
And leave their music ringing in my heart!

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09 May 02 - 09:32 PM (#707804)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suddenly the setting is changed...
From: Celtic Soul

Man, that's quite beautiful. How does the tune sound. I hear something minor key and plaintive reading the lyrics.

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10 May 02 - 07:02 PM (#708516)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suddenly the setting is changed...
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)

I believe it's an old Yiddish freiloch (check spelling!) tune, played still- with lots of reeds, at weddings and celebratory gatherings. And the harmonies go minor-key when, "suddenly, the setting is strange..." The words are recent, but I forget who wrote them. The song was on the Hit Parade- probably the '40s, or at the latest, early '50s. As to the title of the old freiloch, I don't know that either- ask a Klezmer musician, I'd say.

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10 May 02 - 07:06 PM (#708520)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suddenly the setting is changed...
From: Celtic Soul

Oh wow!!! I know I would love this song. Minor key (at least in part), and Yiddish.

Must check this out ASAP. Thanks for the heads-up!!

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