SABRE DANCE
(Aram Ilyich Khachaturian / Roberts / Lee)

note - music from Khachaturian's 1942 ballet "Gayane"

as recorded by The Andrews Sisters
with The Harmonica Gentlemen
March 23rd 1948 Los Angeles


MY heart begins to tingle
When the bells begin to jingle,
Zigidee zing zing, zigidee zing zing,
Ev'ry time they play the sabre dance!
My heartbeats tries to capture
All the rhythm and the rapture,
Zigidee zing zing, zigidee zing zing,
Ev'ry time they play the sabre dance!

I love the spell I'm under
When the drum begins to thunder,
Boomidee boom boom, boomidee boom boom,
Like the tempo of a tropic rain!
When I hear trumpets blaring
I can feel adventure flaring,
Ratatee tat tat, ratatee tat tat,
I am in a mood I can't explain!

I drift to an isle of perfume,
Where summer roses eternally bloom.
There, in a golden gleam,
Waits my one wonderful dream!

Music take me,
Don't forsake me,
Let me be a ship lost at sea that the winds rock and roll,
Whirling, swirling, twirling, out of control!

That music drives me crazy,
Ev'rything becomes so hazy,
Drums are booming, cellos zooming,
Cymbals crashing, sabres flashing
In a willy nilly sort of way;
I seem to hear it night and day!

Blending in romantic fashion,
Melody, moonlight and passion,
Riding high on heaven's highway,
Purple stars are guiding my way,
I am like a comet whizzing by!

Just when I get the feeling
That the universe is reeling,
Suddenly the song is ending
And I find that I'm descending
Like a star that's falling from the sky,
Toppling, twisting!, tumbling!

And down and down and down and down
And round and round and round  and round
And down and down and down and down
And I begin to spin into a trance,
Ev'ry time they play that sabre dance!





(Transcribed by Peter Akers - February 2016)