IT'S ONLY A PAPER MOON 
(Billy Rose / Harold Arlen /E. Y. "Yip" Harburg)

Nat King Cole

Also recorded by:
Ray Anthony; Harold Arlen; Count Basie; Richard Rodney Bennett; 
Tony Bennett; Les Brown; Dave Brubeck; June Christy; 
Rosemary Clooney; Bing Crosby; Bobby Darin; Miles Davis; 
Sammy Davis Jr.; Dion & the Belmonts; Ella Fitzgerald; 
The Four Freshmen; Erroll Garner; Marvin Gaye; Dizzy Gillespie; 
Benny Goodman; Betty Grable; Stephane Grappelli; Lionel Hampton; 
E.Y. "Yip" Harburg; Dick Haymes; Woody Herman; Earl Hines; 
Bert Kaempfert; Stan Kenton; Morgana King; Andre Kostelanetz; 
Gene Krupa; Jophnny Mathis; Maureen McGovern; Ray McKinley;
Vaughn Monroe; Red Nicholls; Harry Nilsson; Les Paul Trio;
Oscar Peterson; The Pied Pipers; Jim Reeves; Django Reinhardt; 
Buddy Rich; George Shearing; Frank Sinatra; Maxine Sullivan; 
Art Tatum; Mel Tormé; Paul Whiteman Orch.; ..... and others.


I never feel a thing is real 
When I'm away from you 
Out of your embrace 
The world's a temporary parking place 

Mmm, mm, mm, mm 
A bubble for a minute 
Mmm, mm, mm, mm 
You smile, the bubble has a rainbow in it 

Say, it's only a paper moon 
Sailing over a cardboard sea 
But it wouldn't be make-believe 
If you believed in me 

Yes, it's only a canvas sky 
Hanging over a muslin tree 
But it wouldn't be make-believe 
If you believed in me 

Without your love 
It's a honky-tonk parade 
Without your love 
It's a melody played in a penny arcade 

It's a Barnum and Bailey world 
Just as phoney as it can be 
But it wouldn't be make-believe 
If you believed in me