STARDUST: American Pop Music

STARDUST

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AT ONE TIME "Stardust" (originally named "Star Dust") was the most recorded song in American pop music. Someone once counted at least 1000 recordings.
    Written in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael as a fast tune, without words, it was later set to music by Mitchell Parrish and the melody was slowed down. As a sentimental ballad it worked and it has since become a standard, recorded by just about everybody who matters in the pop music field.
    It was even adapted as a Rock ballad by the doo-wop group, Billy Ward and His Dominoes and became a big hit during the early Rock era. This is the version heard here. This is also the version used in Martin Scorsese's fim, Casino.
    Doo-wop, incidentally, was a genre of music with a lead singer (usually male) backed by a vocal quartet that supported the lead singer with nonsense syllables, such as "doo-wop," hence the name, "doo-wop." ("Doo-wop" can be distinctly heard in the doo-wop recording of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," by The Platters [1959].)
    "Stardust" is a perfect example of the classic American pop tune, which started with a verse followed by a chorus intermitted by a bridge, hence VABA. It's also a great example of a verse, often discarded on recordings today, that is as memorable as the main chorus, perhaps more so. Pop vocalist, Frank Sinatra made this point by recording just the verse, without the chorus!
    It's the main chorus that usually "sells" the song. But in this case (as well as others) the verse is as distinctive as the chorus and seems complete in itself, even without the chorus, as Sinatra's recording attests.

Verse:

And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that were apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust
Of yesterday
The music
Of the years
Gone by

A: Chorus (main strain):

Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song.
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you.

B: Bridge:

When our love was new, and each kiss an inspiration.
But that was long ago, and now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song.

A: Chorus (main strain):

Beside the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew.
Though I dream in vain, in my heart you will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.

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