Boulevard of Broken Dreams

By Harry Warren & Al Dubin
1934

If you know this as a Green Day song, then you're on the wrong blog. This tango was written for the 1934 musical film Moulin Rouge, in which is was sung by Constance Bennett. It would be used again in the 1952 movie of the same name. The most well-known version would be recorded two years earlier by Tony Bennett (no relation to Constance).

Lyrics:

I walk along the street of sorrow,
The boulevard of broken dreams.
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret,
So they forget their broken dreams.

You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow,
When you behold your shattered schemes.
Then gigolo and gigolette
Awake to find their eyes are wet
With tears that tell of broken dreams.

Here is where you'll always find me,
Always walking up and down.
But I left my soul behind me,
In an old cathedral town.

The joy that you find here you borrow,
You cannot keep it long, it seems.
So gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The boulevard of broken dreams.

Recorded By:

Diana Krall
Marianne Faithful
Jan Garber & His Orchestra (first)
Brian Setzer
Esquivel