"More addictive than a goddam video game" - Balloon Juice

"One of my very favorite music blogs ever..." - Singer/Songwriter Emma Wallace

"Fascinating... really GREAT!!! You'll learn things about those tunes we all LOVE to play and blow on... SOD is required reading for my advanced students. It's fun, too!" - Nick Mondello of
AllAboutJazz.com

"I never let a day go by without checking it." - Bob Madison of Dinoship.com

"I had dinner the other night with some former WNEW staff members who spoke very highly of your work." - Joe Fay

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Why Was I Born?

By Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II
1929

The Kern/Hammerstein musical Sweet Adeline was a part of the 1920s nostalgia fad for the "Gay '90s", i.e. the last decade of the 19th century. Broadway legend Helen Morgan (pictured) introduced this classic torch song in the production, and it was also sung by Irene Dunne in the 1935 film version. Truly a ballad of great power.

Lyrics:

Spending these lonesome evenings
With nothing to do,
But to live in dreams that I make up,
All by myself.
Dreaming that you're beside me,
I picture the prettiest stories,
Only to wake up,
All by myself

What is the good of me by myself?

Why was I born?
Why am I living?
What do I get?
What am I giving?

Why do I want a thing
I daren't hope for?
What can I hope for?
I wish I knew.

Why do I try
To draw you near me?
Why do I cry?
You never hear me.

I'm a poor fool,
But what can I do?
Why was I born
To love you?

Recorded By:

Maude Maggart
Ella Fitzgerald
Frank Sinatra
Billie Holiday
Vic Damone

No comments:

Listen to The Jonathan Station