You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me

By Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal and Pierre Norman
1930

Iconic Frenchman Maurice Chevalier was one of the leading film heartthrobs of the Depression era, and this song was one of the reasons why. Introduced by him in the romantic comedy The Big Pond, in which he sung it to the beautiful Claudette Colbert, the song is an ebullient love anthem, with a Kahal lyric that extols the virtues of the beloved in the manner of a Shakespearean sonnet. Chevalier's recording was a major hit, and was famously lampooned the following year by the Marx Brothers in Monkey Business, which features a scene in which the boys try to pass themselves off as the crooner to get through customs.

Lyrics:

If the nightingales could sing like you
They'd sing much sweeter than they do
For you brought a new kind of love to me

And if the sandman brought me dreams of you
I'd want to sleep my whole life through
You brought a new love to me

I know that I'm the slave, you're the queen
Still you can understand that underneath it all
You're a maid and I am only a man

I would work and slave the whole day through
If I could hurry home to you
You brought a new kind of love to me

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Doris Day
Benny Goodman
Peggy Lee 
Vera Lynn

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

By Sammy Fain & Paul Francis Webster
1955

This was Fain & Webster's second composition to win the Oscar, following "Secret Love". It was featured in the film of the same, and later recorded by The Four Aces, who took it to #1 on the charts. A sweeping romantic epic, it is proof that great film songs were still being written even as the era of rock 'n roll was being born.

Lyrics:

Love is a many-splendored thing
It's the April rose that only grows in the early spring
Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living
The golden crown that makes a man a king

Once on a high and windy hill
In the morning mist two lovers kissed and the world stood still
Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to sing
Yes, true love's a many-splendored thing

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Andy Williams
Barry Manilow
Ringo Starr
Don Cornell

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY FROM STANDARD OF THE DAY...

Tender Is the Night

By Sammy Fain & Paul Francis Webster
1962

Nominated for the Oscar for Best Song, this song debuted in the movie of the same name, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel and starring the late Jason Robards and Jennifer Jones. It would lose to another classic, Henry Mancini's "Days of Wine and Roses". Bernard Hermann orchestrated it for the film, and Tony Bennett would make the first commercial recording of it, later the same year.

Lyrics:

Tender is the night, so tender is the night.
There's no one in the world except the two of us.
Should tomorrow find us disenchanted,
We have shared a love that few have known.

Summers by the sea, a sailboat in Capri,
These memories shall be these very own.
Even though our dreams may vanish with the morning light,
We loved once in splendor--How tender, how tender is the night.

Recorded By:

Andy Williams
Vic Damone
Johnny Mathis
Billy Eckstine
Les Baxter

I'll Be Seeing You

By Sammy Fain & Irving Kahal
1937

Written for the flop Broadway musical Right This Way, it later became known as the theme song for world-famous pianist Liberace. Its original performance on stage came from Russian-born Tamara Drasin. With a powerful, building melodic line by Fain, Kahal's lyrics take a simple phrase of goodbye and turn it into a transcendent expression of longing. The song would enjoy a revival thanks to the 2004 film The Notebook, which features versions by Billie Holiday and Jimmy Durante.

Lyrics:

I'll be seeing you
In all the old, familiar places
That this heart of mine embraces
All day through.

In that small cafe,
The park across the way,
The children's carousel,
The chestnut tree,
The wishing well.

Ill be seeing you
In every lovely, summers day,
And everything that's bright and gay.
Ill always think of you that way.

I'll find you in the morning sun,
And when the night is new.
I'll be looking at the moon,
But I'll be seeing you.

Recorded By:

Jo Stafford
Frank Sinatra
Michael Buble
Tony Bennett
Etta James