Yesterdays

By Jerome Kern & Otto Harbach
1933

One of several hits to emerge from Kern & Harbach's Broadway smash Roberta. With its roots in Kern's operetta background, the song was introduced on stage by Fay Templeton (pictured), once a beloved young starlet of the 19th century who was now at the end of her career. The first recording of the tune was by Leo Reisman's orchestra (vocal by Frank Luther). It would also be included in the 1935 film version of the show.

Lyrics:

Yesterdays, yesterdays,
Days are new as happy sweet
Sequestered days.

Olden days,
Golden days,
Days of mad romance and love.

Then gay youth was mine.
Truth was mine,
Joyous be, and flaming life,
And sooth was mine.

Sad am I,
Glad am I,
For today I'm dreaming of
Yesterdays.

Recorded By:

Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald
Frank Sinatra
Buddy Rich & Max Roach
Charles Mingus

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

By Jerome Kern & Otto Harbach
1933

Along with "Yesterdays", this is one of two major standards to emerge from the 1933 operetta Roberta, in which it was introduced by Tamara Drasin. Irene Dunne performed it in the 1935 film adaptation, and the first commercial recording came from the Paul Whiteman orchestra. Although The Platters' 1958 doo-wop version hit the top of the charts, it is typically derided by purists for lacking the emotional depth and nuance such a piece requires. Those same purists hail the song for its melodic simplicity, built on an ascending and descending scale.

Lyrics:

They asked me how I knew
My true love was true.
I, of course, replied,
"Something here inside
Cannot be denied."

They said someday you'll find
All who love are blind.
When your heart's on fire,
You don't realize
Smoke gets in your eyes.

So I chaffed, and I gaily laughed
To think they would doubt my love.
Yet today, my love has flown away.
I am without my love.

Now, laughing friends deride
Tears I cannot hide.
So, I smile and say,
"When a lovely flame dies,
Smoke gets in your eyes."

Recorded By:

Johnny Mathis
Dinah Washington
Margaret Whiting
Tommy Dorsey
Louis Armstrong