Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

By Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart
1935

The classic songwriting duo of Rodgers & Hart originally composed this tune for their stage production, Jumbo, in which it was introduced by Donald Novis and Gloria Grafton. It is the epitome of the 1930s standard--a warm, poignant expression of loving awe from a man to a woman. As with all the best Rodgers & Hart compositions, the lilting Rodgers melody blends perfectly with the witty, layered Hart lyric. This is songwriting at its very best.

Lyrics:

We used to spend the spring together
Before we learned to walk;
We used to laugh and sing together
Before we learned how to talk.
With no reason for the season,
Spring would end as it would start.
Now the season has a reason
And there's springtime in my heart.

The most beautiful girl in the world
Picks my ties out,
Eats my candy ,
Drinks my brandy-
The most beautiful girl in the world.

The most beautiful star in the world
Isn't Garbo, isn't Dietrich,
But the sweet trick
Who can make me believe it's a beautiful world.

Social-not a bit,
Nat'ral kind of wit,
She' d shine anywhere,
And she hasn't got platinum hair.

The most beautiful house in the world
Has a mortgage-
What do I care?
It's goodbye care
When my slippers are next to the ones that belong
To the one and only beautiful girl in the world!

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Dorsey Brothers Orchestra
Sonny Rollins
Les & Larry Elgart
Percy Faith

1 comment:

  1. I vaguely recall this tune redone as a commercial jingle for a laundry product. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

    (I'm still trying to convince my friends that Ellington's Raincheck was once a jingle for Woolite, so I'm not holding out a lot of hope on this.)

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