223.Stormy Blues

Billie Holiday

I’ve been down so long
That down don’t worry me
I’ve been down so long
Down don’t worry me
I just sit and wonder
Where can my good man be

When it rains in here
It’s storming on the sea
When it rains in here
It’s storming on the sea
Every time I come here
Everything happens to me

I lose my man
I lose my head
I lose my money
Feel like I’m almost dead
I need you honey
Need you bad as can be
I’ve been down so long
That down don’t worry me

222. Stars Fell On Alabama (1934)

Lyrics by Mitchell Parish
Music by Frank S. Perkins

We lived our little drama
We kissed in a field of white
And stars fell on Alabama
Last night

I can’t forget the glamour
Your eyes held a tender light
And stars fell on Alabama
Last night

I never planned in my imagination
A situation so heavenly
A fairy land where no one else could enter
And in the center
Just you and me, dear

My heart beat like a hammer
My arms wound around you tight
And stars fell on Alabama
Last night

(bridge)

We lived our little drama
We kissed in a field of white
And stars fell on Alabama
Last night

I can’t forget the glamour
Your eyes held a tender light
And stars fell on Alabama
Last night

I never planned in my imagination
A situation so heavenly
A fairy land where no one else could enter
And in the center
Just you and me, dear

My heart beat like a hammer
My arms wound around you tight
And stars fell on Alabama
Last night

First to sing: Jack Teargarden

221. St. Louis Blues (1914)

lyrics and music by  W.C. Handy

I hate to see that evening sun go down
I hate to see that evening sun go down
‘Cause my baby, he’s done, left this town
Feeling tomorrow like I feel today
If I’m feeling tomorrow like I feel today
I’ll pack my trunk make my getaway

St. Louis woman with her diamond rings
Pulls that man around by her apron strings
If it wasn’t for powder and her store-bought hair
That man I love wouldn’t have gone nowhere, nowhere

I got the St. Louis Blues
Blue as I can be
That man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me

(bridge)

I love my man like a schoolboy loves his pie
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint and rye
I’ll love my baby till the day I die

 

2nd version

I hate to see that evening sun go down
I hate to see that evening sun go down
‘Cause my baby, he’s done, left this town
Feeling tomorrow like I feel today
If I’m feeling tomorrow like I feel today
I’ll pack my trunk make my getaway

St. Louis woman with her diamond rings
Pulls that man around by her apron strings
If it wasn’t for powder and her store-bought hair
That man I love wouldn’t have gone nowhere, nowhere

I got the St. Louis Blues
Blue as I can be
That man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me

(bridge)

I love my man like a schoolboy loves his pie
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint and rye
I’ll love my baby till the day I die

220. Spreadin’ Rhythm Around (1935)

lyrics by  Teddy Koehler

music by Jimmy McHugh

Music everywhere feet are pattin’ Putting tempo in old Manhattan Everybody is out high hattin’ Spreadin’ rhythm around

Everywhere you go trumpets are blarin’ Drums and saxophones rip and tearin’ Everybody you meet is rarin’ Spreadin’ rhythm around

Up in Harlem in every flat

They give it that zing Which according to one and all

Is what they call swing

Those who can’t afford silk and satin Dance with gigolos who are Latin Come from Yonkers the Bronx and Staten Spreadin’ rhythm around

From the film King of Burlesque with Alice Faye

219. Speak Low (1943)

Lyrics by Ogden Nash
Music by Kurt Weill

Speak low
When you speak love
Our summer day
Withers away
Too soon, too soon

Speak low
When you speak love
Our moment is swift
Like ships adrift
We’re swept apart
Too soon

Speak low
Darling speak low
Love is a spark
Lost in the dark
Too soon, too soon

I feel
Wherever I go
That tomorrow is near
Tomorrow is here
Always too soon

(rhythm change)

Time is so old
And love so brief
Love is pure gold
And time a thief

(original rhythm)

We’re late
Darling, we’re late
The curtain descends
Everything ends
Too soon, too soon

I wait
Darling, I wait
Will you speak low to me
Speak love to me and soon

(bridge, rhythm change)

Time is so old
And love so brief
Love is pure gold
And time a thief

(original rhythm)

We’re late
Darling, we’re late
The curtain descends
Everything ends
Too soon, too soon

I wait
Darling, I wait
Will you speak low to me
Speak love to me and soon
Speak low

From the show One Touch of Venus with Mary Martin and Kenny Baker

218. Sophisticated Lady (1933)

Lyrics by Mitchell Parish & Irving Mills
Music by Duke Ellington

They say
Into your early life romance came
And in this heart of yours burned a flame
A flame that flickered one day
And died
Away

Then,
With disillusion deep in your eyes
You learned that fools in love soon grow wise
The years have changed you somehow
I see you now

Smoking, drinking
Never thinking of tomorrow
Nonchalant
Diamonds shining
Dancing, dining
With some man in a restaurant
Is that all you really want?

No,
Sophisticated lady I know
You miss the love you lost long ago
And when nobody is nigh
You cry

(bridge)

Smoking, drinking
Never thinking of tomorrow
Nonchalant
Diamonds shining
Dancing, dining
With some man in a restaurant
Is that all you really want?

No,
Sophisticated lady I know
You miss the love you lost long ago
And when nobody is nigh
You cry
Sophisticated lady
You cry

First to play Duke Ellington

217. Sometimes I’m Happy (1925)

lyrics by Irving Caesar

music by Vincent Youmans 

Sometimes I’m happy
Sometimes I’m blue
My disposition
Depends on you

I never mind
The rain from the skies
If I can find
The sun in your eyes

Sometimes I love you
Sometimes I hate you
But when I hate you
It’s ’cause I love you

That’s how I am
So what can I do
I’m happy when I’m with you

Sometimes I’m happy
Sometimes I’m blue
My disposition
Depends on you

I never mind
The rain from the skies
If I can find
The sun in your eyes

Sometimes I love you
Sometimes I hate you
But when I hate you
It’s ’cause I love you

That’s how I am
So what can I do
I’m happy when I’m with you
I’m happy when I’m with
I’m happy when I’m with
So happy when I’m with
I’m happy when I’m with you
(fade out)

Some sources mention also Clifford Grey as composer

From the play A Night Out

216. Somebody’s On My Mind

Billie Holiday & Arthur Herzog Jr.

Somebody’s on my mind
Like an old sweet song
“The Lasting Time”
Somebody’s on my mind
So I’m walking on clouds
On a silver line

To dream my dream
Could be my mistake
But I’d rather be wrong
And sleep right along
Than wake
Love may be blind
I’ll take my chances
That it cares this affairs
My real romance
That’s why you’ll find
Somebody’s on my mind

(bridge)

To dream my dream
Could be my mistake
But I’d rather be wrong
And sleep right along
Than wake
Love may be blind
I’ll take my chances
That it cares this affairs
My real romance
That’s why you’ll find
Somebody’s on my mind

215. Some Other Spring

Irene Kitchings & Arthur Herzog Jr.

Some other spring
I’ll try to love
Now I still cling
To faded blossoms
Fresh when worn
Left crushed and torn
Like the love affair I mourn

Some other spring
When twilight falls
Will the nights bring
Another to me?

Not your kind
But let me find
It’s not true that love is blind
Sunshine’s around me
But deep in my heart it’s cold as ice
Love once you’ve found me
But can that story unfold twice?

Some other spring
Will my heart awake?
Stirring to sing
Love’s magic music
Then forget the old duet
Can love in some other spring?

(bridge)

Sunshine’s around me
But deep in my heart it’s cold as ice
Love once you’ve found me
But can that story be told twice?

Some other spring
Will my heart awake?
Stirring to sing
Love’s magic music
Then forget the old duet

Can love in some other spring?

 

2nd version

Some other spring
I’ll try to love
Now I still cling
To faded blossoms
Fresh when worn
Left crushed and torn
Like the love affair I mourn

Some other spring
When twilight falls
Will the nights bring
Another to me

Not your kind
But let me find
It’s not true
That love is blind

Sunshine’s around me
But deep in my heart it’s cold as ice
Love once you’ve found me
But can that story unfold twice

Some other spring
Will my heart wake
Stirring to sing
Love’s magic music
Then forget the old duet
And love in some other spring

Sunshine’s around me
But deep in my heart it’s cold as ice
Love once you’ve found me
But can that story unfold twice

Some other spring
Will my heart wake
Stirring to sing
Love’s magic music
Then forget the old duet

And love in some other
Spring

 

 

214. Some Of These Days (1910)

Lyrics and music by Shelton Brooks 

[rehearsal fragment]

Some of these days
You’ll miss me honey
Some of these days
You’ll feel so lonely
You’ll miss my hugging
You’ll miss my kissing
You’ll miss me honey
(…)

first to sing Sophie Tucker