Living Song, Vol. 2

I was texting with a new friend the other day and he asked if I liked poetry

My response was "Yes I do...and poetry set to music, aka jazz.....I love words"

I really thought how succinctly I stated a very deep personal belief and love for expressive communication and profound thought and emotion through song.

So I decided to post the lyrics to some of my favorite songs (jazz and other genres) to illustrate exactly what I mean...

For my second selection in the "Living Song" series, I have chosen one of my favorite jazz records, one that gets precious little play and has not been widely covered by artists: Midnight Sun. Composed by Sonny Burke and Lionel Hampton and lyrics by Johnny Mercer, Midnight Sun is one of the most lyrically entrancing and sensory decadent songs I have ever listened to:

Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice, warmer than the summer night
The clouds were like an alabaster palace rising to a snowy height.
Each star it's own aurora borealis, suddenly you held me tight,
I could see the Midnight Sun.

I can't explain the silver rain that found me--or was that a moonlight veil?
The music of the universe around me, or was that a nightingale?
And then your arms miraculously found me,suddenly the sky turned pale,
I could see the Midnight Sun.

Was there such a night, it's a thrill I still don't quite believe,
But after you were gone, there was still some stardust on my sleeve.

The flame of it may dwindle to an ember, and the stars forget to shine,
And we may see the meadow in December, icy white and crystalline.
But oh my darling always I'll remember when your lips were close to mine,
And we saw the Midnight Sun.

Living Song, Vol. 1

I was texting with a new friend the other day and he asked if I liked poetry

My response was "Yes I do...and poetry set to music, aka jazz.....I love words"

I really thought how succinctly I stated a very deep personal belief and love for expressive communication and profound thought and emotion through song.

So I decided to post the lyrics to some of my favorite songs (jazz and other genres) to illustrate exactly what I mean...

For my first selection, the lyrics to the song Lush Life, written and composed by GENIUS Billy Strayhorn :

I used to visit all the very gay places

Those come what may places

Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life

To get the feel of life from jazz and cocktails

The girls I knew had sad and sullen grey faces

With distingue traces

That used to be there you could see where they'd been washed away

By too many through the day twelve o'clock tales

Then you came along with your siren song

To tempt me to madness

I thought for a while that your poignant smile

Was tinged with the sadness of a great love for me

Ah yes I was wrong, again I was wrong

Life is lonely again

And only last year everything seemed so sure

Now life is awful again

A trough full of hearts could only be a bore

A week in Paris could ease the bite of it

All I care is to smile in spite of it

I'll forget you, I will

While yet you are still burning inside my brain

Romance is mush, stifling those who strive

So I'll live a lush life in some small dive

And there I'll be

While I rot

With the rest of those whose lives are lonely too

Real Chic...Real Soul....

One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite singers, wearing one of my favorite silhouettes...Deja Vu, Dionne, Diaphonous!