I used to visit all the very gay places

[Dookus]

Those come-what-may places
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life from jazz and cocktails

The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingue traces that used to be there
You could see where they'd been washed away
By too many through the day, twelve o'clock tales

Then you came along with your siren song
To tempt me to madness
I thought for awhile that your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness of a great love for me
Ah yes, I was wrong
Again, I was wrong

Life is lonely again and only last year
Everything seemed so sure
Now life is awful again
A trough full of hearts could only be a bore

A week in Paris could ease the bite of it
All I care is to smile in spite of it

I'll forget you, I will while yet you are still
Burning inside my brain romance is mush
Stifling those who strive

So I'll live a lush life in some small dive
And there I'll be
While I rot with the rest of those
Whose lives are lonely too

*************************
written by Billy Strayhorn when he was 18 years old.

[MajorFlaw]

1. Good choice. The Coltrane/Hartmann version is one of my favorite

musical performances.

[Dookus]

2. Yeah...

I searched for years, in vain, to see if Billie Holiday had ever sung the song. Eventually I had to come to the sad conclusion that if she did, she never recorded it, which is a huge shame. I think that song and her voice were just made for each other.