Where or When

By Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart
1937

A slowly rising, powerful ballad from Rodger & Hart, this one was introduced by Ray Heatherton and Mitzi Green on stage in Babes in Arms. The song also made it into the 1939 musical film of the same name. Although a hit for many artists at the time, it was resurrected more than 20 years later with a number three hit for Dion & The Belmonts.

Lyrics:

When you're awake, the things you think
Come from the dream you dream.
Thought has wings, and lots of things
Are seldom what they seem.
Sometimes you think you've lived before--
All that you live today,
Things you do come back to you,
As though they knew the way.
Oh, the tricks your mind can play.

It seems we stood and talked like this, before.
We looked at each other in the same way then,
But I can't remember where or when.

The clothes you're wearing are the clothes you wore.
The smile you are smiling you were smiling then,
But I can't remember where or when.

Some things that happened for the first time
Seem to be happening again.

And so, it seems that we have met before,
And that we laughed before, also loved before,
But who knows where or when?

Recorded By:

Hal Kemp
Frank Sinatra
The Lettermen
Julie Andrews
Count Basie