BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS, THE
From the film "Moulin Rouge" (1934)
(Music: Harry Warren / Lyrics: Al Dubin)
Constance Bennett (Film Soundtrack) - 1934
Jan Garber & His Orch. (vocal: Lee Bennett) - 1934
Hal Kemp & His Orch. (vocal: Deane Janis) - 1934
Tony Bennett - 1950 (re-recorded 1952, 1990)
Kay Starr - 1955
Ferlin Husky - 1957
Billy Eckstine - 1958
Patti Page - 1964
James White - 1983
Marianne Faithfull - 1987 (re-recorded 1996)
Connie Champagne - 1991
Diana Krall - 1995 (re-recorded 2006)
Steve Blackwood - 1997
James Darren - 2001
Jacintha - 2001
Tony Bennett & Sting - 2007
Also recorded by:Connee Boswell; Helen O'Connell;
Helen Ward (with Ed Loyd's Orch.); Nat King Cole;
Dick Haymes(with Victor Young's Orch); Art Tatum;
Frances Langford (with Harry Sosnick & His Orch);
Greg Kihn; Jack Burger; Kenny Drew; Roland Brunt;
Les Elgart; Louis Prima..........and many others.
I walk along the street of sorrow
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams
You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow
When you behold your shattered schemes
And gigolo and gigolette
Wake up to find their eyes are wet
With tears that tell of broken dreams
Here is where you'll always find me
Always walking up and down
But I left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town
The joy that you find here, you borrow
You cannot keep it long, it seems
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Smiling while my woes are piling
I must be bequiling or they'll pass me by
Laughter, that is what they're after
But behind my laughter there's a tear-dimmed eye
Oh, Gay Paree, you've made a wreck of me
The joy that you find here, you borrow
You cannot keep it long, it seems
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams
******************
as recorded by Billy Eckstine
1958
Nightly,
Lights are shining brightly
While the music plays.
Madness,
In the guise of gladness,
Overcoming sadness
In a million ways.
Oh gay Paree,
What have you done to me?
I walk along the street of sorrow,
The boulevard of broken dreams,
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret,
So they forgot their broken dreams.
You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow
When you behold your shattered schemes,
And gigolo and gigolette
Wake up to find their eyes are wet
With tears to tell of broken dreams.
Here is where you'll always find me,
Always walking up and down,
But I left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town.
The joy that you find here you borrow,
You cannot keep it long, it seems,
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song
and dfance along
The boulevard of broken dreams.
(Transcribed by Peter Akers - March 2014)