In celebration of autumn I send these songs and a few quotes. I hope listeners will enjoy!

Who hears music feels his solitude peopled at once.
– Robert Browning

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
– W. H. Auden

Music is well said to be the speech of angels.
– Thomas Carlyle

If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.
– Jimi Hendrix

Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions (e.g. House of Wisdom), garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the “Center of Learning”.

In contemporary times, Baghdad has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been frequently subjected to insurgency attacks. As of 2012, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places in the world to live,[5] and was ranked by Mercer as the worst of 221 major cities as measured by quality-of-life.

Kismet, the Broadway musical, takes place in a past Baghdad – where palace intrigue and romance thrived. Music in Kismet was based on Alexander Borodin’s melodic body of work. I have selected three of many songs that are now considered ‘standards.’

“Stardust” is an American popular song composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics added in 1929 by Mitchell Parish. Carmichael first recorded the song, originally titled “Star Dust”, at the Gennett Records studio in Richmond, Indiana. The song, “a song about a song about love”,[1] played in an idiosyncratic melody in medium tempo, became an American standard, and is one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, with over 1,500 total recordings.[2] In 2004, Carmichael’s original 1927 recording of the song was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. “Stardust” is considered by many the finest song ever written.

This week’s lyrical Tuesday features Night and Day by Cole Porter. Listen to it for its unusual harmonic structure and enjoy Ella Fitzgerald’s version.

Night and Day by Cole Porter

Like the beat, beat, beat of the tom-tom
When the jungle shadows fall
Like the tick, tick, tock of the stately clock
As it stands against the wall
Like the drip, drip, drip of the raindrops
When the summer shower is through
So a voice within me keeps repeating

You, you, you
Night and day, you are the one
Only you beneath the moon and under the sun
Whether near to me, or far
It’s no matter darling where you are
I think of you night and day

Day and night, why is it so?
That this longing for you follows wherever I go
In the roaring traffic’s boom
In the silence of my lonely room, I think of you

Night and day, night and day under the hide of me
There’s an oh such a hungry yearning burning inside of me
And its torment won’t be through
‘Til you let me spend my life making love to you

Day and night, night and day
Night and day under the hide of me
There’s an oh such a hungry yearning burning inside of me
And its torment won’t be through
‘Til you let me spend my life making love to you
Day and night, night and day

Robert Meredith Wilson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American composer, songwriter, flutist, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man. He wrote three other Broadway musicals, composed symphonies and popular songs, and his film scores were twice nominated for Academy Awards.

Meredith was a friend of mine in 1957 during the Music Man production. I was fortunate to have been what they call an angel, having borrowed $500. to invest. That investment sure paid off but more than the financial gain was the friendship, opening night, house seats, and excitement in general.

Today’s lyrics are not from the Music Man. It’s almost Xmas so I selected the following:

Lyrics
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev’rywhere you go,
Take a look in the five-and-ten, it’s glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes that glow.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Toys in ev’ry store,
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.
A pair of hop-along boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben,
Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk
Is the hope of Janice and Jen,
Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev’rywhere you go,
There’s a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well,
It’s the sturdy kind that doesn’t mind the snow.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in ev’ry store,
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.
Sure it’s Christmas, once a-more

This week lyrical Tuesday honors Frank Sinatra on his 100th birthday.
Most of you don’t know that this amazing song was actually the remake of a french song called ” comme d’habitude ” by claude françois. the original words were about the end of a love affair.

Paul Anka, after hearing the song while watching French television in Paris, bought the song’s publication and adaptation rights for only one dollar. The original songwriters retained the music-composition half of their songwriter royalties. Anka wrote English lyrics specifically for Frank Sinatra, I was lucky to hear Frank Sinatra perform this song at Madison Square Garden – what an amazing concert!!!!

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I’ll say it clear,
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.

I’ve lived a life that’s full.
I’ve traveled each and every highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, I’ve had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried.
I’ve had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say – not in a shy way,
“Oh no, oh no not me,
I did it my way”.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows –
And did it my way!

Yes, it was my way.

Jane Hall
janehallpsychotherapy.com