Five Old Fashioned Love Songs

Rebecca Varidel
4th Feb 2017

Way back when in an era when courting was more than a Tinder swipe, potent passionate lyrics met swooning tunes in these old-fashioned love songs:

Lullaby of Birdland (1952)

Lullaby of Birdland, that's what I 
Always hear when you sigh
Never in my wordland 
Could there be ways to reveal
In a phrase how I feel
Have you ever heard two turtle doves
Bill and coo when they love?
That's the kind of magic 
Music we make with our lips when we kiss
And there's a weepy old willow
He really knows how to cry
That's how I'd cry in my pillow
If you should tell me farewell and goodbye
Lullaby of Birdland whisper low
Kiss me sweet and we'll go
Flyin' high in Birdland
High in the sky up above
All because we're in love

music by George Shearing and lyrics by George David Weiss under the pseudonym "B. Y. Forster"
performers include Ella Fitzgerald, the Blue Stars of France (a Billboard top twenty hit in 1956, sung in French), Sarah Vaughan, Quincy Jones, and Amy Winehouse.

Blue Moon (1934)

You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Blue moon
You knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the moon it turned to gold

Blue moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked the moon had turned to gold

Blue moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Blue moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

music by Richard Rogers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart
performers include Billy Eckstine, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley and Rod Stewart.

Night And Day (1932)

Like the beat, beat, beat of the tom tom
When the jungle shadows fall
Like the tick, tick, tock of the stately clock
As it stands against the wall
Like the drip, drip drip of the rain drops
When the summer showers through
A voice within me keeps repeating
You, you, you

Night and day you are the one
Only you beneath the moon or under the sun
Whether near to me or far it's no matter darling
Where you are
I think of you
Day and night, night and day

Why is it so that this longing for you
Follows where ever I go
In the roaring traffic's boom, in the silence of my lonely room
I think of you
Night and day, day and night

Under the hide of me, there's an oh such a hungry yearning
Inside of me
And this torment wont be through
Till you let me spend my life making love to you
Day and night, night and day

music and lyrics by Cole Porter
performers include Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Eartha Kitt, Shirley Bassey and Ella Fitzgerald.

You Go To My Head (1938)

You go to my head
And you linger like a haunting refrain
And I find you spinning round in my brain
Like the bubbles in a glass of champagne

You go to my head
Like a sip of sparkling burgundy brew
And I find the very mention of you
Like the kicker in a julep or two

The thrill of the thought that you might give a thought
To my plea, casts a spell over me
Still I say to myself get a hold of yourself
Can't you see that it never can be

You go to my head
With a smile that makes my temperature rise
Like a summer with a thousand July's
You intoxicate my soul with your eyes

Though I'm certain that this heart of mine
Hasn't a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance
You go to my head
You go to my head

Though I'm certain that this heart of mine
Hasn't a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance
You go to my head
You go to my head

music by J. Fred Coots and lyrics by Haven Gillespie
performers include Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee and Petula Clark.

Our Day Will Come (1963)

Our day will come (Our day will come)
And we'll have everything
We'll share the joy (We'll share the joy)
Falling in love can bring
No one can tell me
That I'm too young to know (Young to know)
I love you so (Love you so)
And you love me

Our day will come (Our day will come)
If we just wait a while
No tears for us (No tears for us)
Think love and wear a smile

Our dreams have magic
Because we'll always stay in love this way
Our day will come
(Our day will come, our day will come)

Ooh
Ooh

Our dreams have magic
Because we'll always stay in love this way

Our day will come
(Our day will come, our day will come)
Our day will come
(Our day will come, our day will come)
Our day will come
(Our day will come, our day will come)
Our day will come
(Our day will come, our day will come)
Our day will come

music and lyrics by Bob Hilliard and Mort Garson
performers include Ruby & The Romantics, Bobby Darin, Cliff Richard, Carpenters and Amy Winehouse.