Product Description
This arrangement of "The Last Time I Saw Paris" is written as played by piano artist, Liberace. It contains an introduction, by Liberace, using parts of the French song, "Clair De Lune" by Claude Debussy.
"The Last Time I Saw Paris" is a song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, published in 1940. It was sung in the 1941 film Lady Be Good by Ann Sothern.
By December 1940, six versions of the song were on the charts, with Kate Smith having exclusive radio rights for the song for six weeks. The song catered to a wartime nostalgia for songs about European cities following the Second World War Battle of France (which brought Paris under Nazi control), with "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" also proving popular.
The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1941. This was Kern's second Academy Award for Best Original Song (following his success with "The Way You Look Tonight" in 1936), and Hammerstein's first.
Władziu Valentino Liberace(May 16, 1919 February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures, and endorsements. At the height of his fame from the 1950s to 1970s, he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world!
Lyrics:
(Verse)
A lady known as Paris
Romantic and charming
Has left her old companions
And faded from view
Lonely men with lonely eyes are seeking her in vain
The streets are where they were
But there's no sign of her
She has left the Seine
(Chorus)
The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay
I heard the laughter of her heart
In every street cafe
The last time I saw Paris
Hеr trees were dressеd for spring
And lovers walked beneath those trees
And birds had songs to sing
I dodged the same old taxicabs
That I had dodged for years
The chorus of their squeaking horns
Was music to my ears
The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay
No matter how they change her
I'll remember her that way
I'll think of happy hours
And people who shared them
Old women selling flowers
In markets at dawn
(Bridge)
Children who applauded Punch and Judy in the park
And those who danced at night and kept our Paris bright
Till the town went dark
(Chorus)
The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay
I heard the laughter of her heart
In every street cafe
The last time I saw Paris
Her trees were dressed for spring
And lovers walked beneath those trees
And birds had songs to sing
I dodged the same old taxicabs
That I had dodged for years
The chorus of their squeaking horns
Was music to my ears
The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay
No matter how they change her
I'll remember her that way
I'll think of happy hours
And people who shared them
Old women selling flowers
In markets at dawn
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.