It's De-Lovely

By Cole Porter
1936

One of Porter's signature songs, its title was used for the title of the 2004 film of his life starring Kevin Kline. It was composed for the famous musical Red, Hot & Blue, and later adapted for the 1960s revival of Anything Goes. Chrysler kept the song in the popular vernacular by using it to advertise its line of DeSoto automobiles.

Lyrics:

I feel a sudden urge to sing
The kind of ditty that invokes the spring.
So control your desire to curse,
While I crucify the verse.
This verse I started seems to me
The Tin-Pantithesis of a melody,
So to spare you all the pain,
I'll skip the darn thing and sing the refrain...

The night is young, the skies are clear,
So if you want to go walking, dear,
It's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely.

I understand the reason why
You're sentimental, 'cause so am I,
It's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely.

You can tell at a glance
What a swell night this is for romance,
You can hear dear Mother Nature
Murmuring low,
"Let yourself go!"

So please be sweet, my chickadee,
And when I kiss you, just say to me,
"It's delightful, it's delicious,
It's delectable, it's delirious,
It's dilemma, it's delimit, it's deluxe,
It's de-lovely."

Recorded By:

Eddie Duchin
Ella Fitzgerald
Johnny Mathis
Sarah Vaughan
Dinah Shore