A PRETTY GIRL IS LIKE A MELODY
From the Broadway Revue "Ziegfeld Follies Of 1919)
(Irving Berlin)
John Steel (Broadway Production) - 1919
Sam Ash - 1919
Red Nichols & His Five Pennies (Instr.) - 1929
Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees - 1935
Dennis Morgan (feat. in the film "The Great Ziegfeld") - 1936
Artie Shaw & His New Music (Instr.) - 1936
Al Jolson - 1936
Geraldo & His Orch. (vocal: Cavan O'Connor) - 1936
Seger Ellis & His Orch. (Instr.)- 1937
Eddie South & His Orch. (Instr.) - 1940
Kenny Baker - 1940
George Shearing (Instr.) - 1942
Fred Astaire (feat. in the film "Blue Skies") - 1946
Mario Lanza - 1946
Wayne King & His Orch. - 1946
Larry Clinton & His Orch. (Instr.) - 1946
Sammy Kaye & His Orch. - 1949
Don Byas (Instr.) - 1950
Earl Hines & His Orch. (vocal: Johnny Hartman) - 1953
Ethel Merman (feat. in the film "There's No Business Like Show Business") - 1954
Lou Stein (Instr.) - 1956
Pat Boone - 1957
Steve Allen & His Orch. (Instr.) - 1959
Larry Elgart & His Orch. (Instr.) - 1960
The Piltdown Men (Instr.) - 1962
Bobby Vinton - 1964
Walter Willison (feat. in the TV film "Ziegfeld: The Man And His Women") - 1978
Bing Crosby; Vic Damone; Frances Day; Bobby Gordon;
Frank Sinatra; Judy Garland; Allan Jones; Liberace;
Tommy Kinsman & His Band; Rod Stewart; Woody Allen;
Sonny Lester & Orch.; Jackie Gleason; Beegie Adair;
Svend Asmussen; Ralph Sharon Trio; Coleman Hawkins;
Grady Martin & The Slew Foot Five; Paul Whiteman;
Louis Armstrong; Django Reinhardt; Stanley Black;
Joe Loco & His Latin Combo; Arthur Kay Ensemble;
Eddie Heywood; Mose Allison; Billy Wallace Trio;
............... and many others.
As recorded by JOHN STEEL, June 30th 1919:
I have an ear for music
And I have an eye for a maid
I link a pretty girly
With each pretty tune that's played
They go together like sunny weather
Goes with the month of May
I've studied girls and music
So I'm qualified to say
A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day
Just like the strain of a haunting refrain
She'll start upon a marathon
And run around your brain
You can't escape, she's in your memory
By morning, night and noon
She will leave you and then come back again
A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune
A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day
Just like the strain of a haunting refrain
She'll start upon a marathon
And run around your brain
You can't escape, she's in your memory
By morning, night and noon
She will leave you and then come back again
A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune
(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - November 2013)
*********************
Extra verses as originally performed on Braodway:
(To the melody of Dvorak's Humoresque)
While a string orchestra played
This lovely tune I met a maid
And from the start she set my brain awhirl
But alas we parted soon
And now I love to hear this tune
For it reminds me of that certain girl
(To the melody of Mendelsohn's Spring Song)
Once I met a girlie at the close of spring
I began to woo her and she answered, "Yes", that summer
But when I went out to buy the wedding ring
She left me flat and ran off with a drummer
(To the melody of Massina's Elegy)
While the cello moaned tenderly this melody
She said to me, "I love you"
When the cello fellow was through he said, "Adieu"
She said, "Me too" and flew
(To the melody of Offenbach's Barcarolle from "Tales of Hoffman")
At the opera she said, "My dear,
I love you with all my soul"
While the singers filled up my ear
With Offenbach's Barcarolle
When the music died away, her love for me grew cold
And I found she told better tales
Than old Hoffman told
(To the melody of Schubert's Serenade)
Once to a maid, this sweet serenade
I sang with feeling and grace
I vocalized just how much I prized
Her form and beautiful face
Sad to say the maiden's husband
Came with a spade
And ruined my serenade
(To the melody of Schumann's Traumerei)
We met one evening at a dance
The band was playing, I was saying
Give me just a chance
She told me of a boy in France
And then she vanished and it banished
My romance
