Stardust

A number of years ago, Steve Allen had a TV show. On that show, he would make fun of rock and roll by reading the lyrics of a song as a poem. I can imagine how much he might have liked to do the same with Rap lyrics today. As much as I laughed then (and I liked rock and roll music), it made me think about how songs are simply poems put to music. Even our National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, is a poem that was later put to music.

I have two songs which I love. The first is timeless, a true "standard", written by Hoagy Carmichael (music) and Mitchell Parish (lyrics). Carmichael originally wrote the tune as a mid-tempo jazz instrumental piece in 1927. In 1930, it was turned into a sentimental ballad by Isham Jones. It is the words which I love, the way they flow together. The song is one of those rare instances where the music and lyrics, even though written a couple of years apart, combine into a masterpiece that does just as the lyrics say... become a song that will not die.

And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart

Hearing these words immediately sets a quiet mood of contemplation in my mind.

High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart

And fill me with the sadness a lonely lover feels.

You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust
Of yesterday
The music
Of the years
Gone by

So few of us have ever avoided a broken heart. And music is the special soother for that ache. A feeling of warm and somehow comforting melancholy permeates my soul each time I hear these words.

Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song.
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you.
When our love was new, and each kiss an inspiration.
But that was long ago, and now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song.
Beside the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew.
Though I dream in vain, in my heart you will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of loves refrain.

Because I have heard this song so many times, I cannot read the words without hearing the melody in my head. Even though I have not had a broken heart in so many years, this song remains my ultimate favorite. I am apparently not alone, Stardust was recorded over 1800 times in the 20th Century.


The second favorite of mine is one which pales in comparison. So I won't even reveal it at this time.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_(song)


Lyrics reproduced without permission (so, sue me).

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