Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars

By Antonio Carlos Jobim & Gene Lees
1963

One of the songs Jobim wrote for his groundbreaking collaboration with Stan Getz, this was first sung by the sublime Astrud Gilberto. The album, Getz/Gilberto, won the Grammy for Album of the Year and introduced Jobim and the bossa nova craze to the U.S. That same album also included another seminal bossa standard, "The Girl from Ipanema". It was originally written in Portuguese as "Corcovado".

Lyrics:

Quiet nights of quiet stars,
Quiet chords from my guitar,
Floating on the silence that surrounds us.

Quiet thoughts and quiet dreams,
Quiet walks by quiet streams,
And a window that looks out on the mountains and the sea, how lovely.

This is where I want to be,
Here with you so close to me,
Until the final flicker of life's ember.

I, who was lost and lonely,
Believing life was only
A bitter tragic joke, have found with you,
The meaning of existence, my love.

Recorded By:

Miles Davis
Sergio Mendes
Oscar Peterson
Blossom Dearie
Andy Williams

Call Me Irresponsible

By Jimmy Van Heusen & Sammy Cahn
1963

From the tail end of the "popular standards" era comes this Academy Award-winning tune from the Jackie Gleason vehicle Papa's Delicate Condition, in which it was introduced by the Great One himself. The story goes that it was originally written for Judy Garland to sing at a dinner, as a comic reference to her well-known "issues". Garland wound up later singing the song on her short-lived TV show.

Lyrics:

Call me irresponsible.
Call me unreliable.
Throw in undependable, too.

Do my foolish alibis bore you?
Well I'm not too clever, I just adore you.

Call me unpredictable.
Tell me I'm impractical.
Rainbows I'm inclined to pursue.

Call me irresponsible.
Yes, I'm unreliable.
But it's undeniably true--
I'm irresponsibly mad for you.

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Michael Buble
Bobby Darin
Julie London
Jack Jones