Make Believe

By Jerome Kern
1927

A profoundly moving duet ballad from Kern's Show Boat, usually credited as the first modern Broadway musical. It was introduced on stage by Norma Terris and Howard Marsh (pictured), and also performed to great effect by Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson in the 1951 MGM musical adaptation. It's lyrics, expressed by two people suddenly and spontaneously realizing they are in love with each other, are among the most moving in the Great American Songbook.

Lyrics:

Only make believe I love you,
Only make believe that you love me.
Others find peace of mind in pretending,
Couldn't you?
Couldn't I?
Couldn't we?
Make believe our lips are blending
In a phantom kiss, or two, or three.
Might as well make believe I love you,
For to tell the truth I do

Your pardon I pray
'Twas too much to say
The words that betray my heart.

We only pretend
You do not offend
In playing a lover's part.
The game of just supposing
Is the sweetest game I know.
Our dreams are more romantic
Than the world we see.

And if the things we dream about
Don't happen to be so,
That's just an unimportant technicality.

Though the cold and brutal fact is
You and I have never met,
We need not mind convention's P's and Q's
If we put our thoughts in practice
We can banish all regret
Imagining most anything we choose.

Only make believe I love you,
Only make believe that you love me.
Others find peace of mind in pretending,
Couldn't you?
Couldn't I?
Couldn't we?
Make believe our lips are blending
In a phantom kiss, or two, or three.
Might as well make believe I love you,
For to tell the truth I do

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Jo Stafford
Barbra Streisand
Peggy Lee & Patrice Munsel
Deanna Durbin

Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man

By Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II
1927

A heartbreaker if ever there was one, this is probably the most well-known song from the immortal musical Showboat, usually cited as the first modern musical. Kern incorporates blues into his melody, and Hammerstein weaves a melancholy lyric about loving someone who may not necessarily deserve it. In the 1920-40s, it was closely associated with Helen Morgan, who originally introduced it. Some controversy has hovered over the lyric, which does allude to negative African American stereotypes.

Lyrics:

Oh listen sister,
I love my mister man,
And I can't tell you' why.
Dere ain't no reason
Why I should love dat man.
It mus' be sumpin dat de angels done plan.

De chimney's smokin'
De roof is leakin' in,
But he don't seem to care.
Dere ain't no reason why I should love dat man.

Fish got to swim, birds got to fly,
I got to love one man till I die.
Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.

Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow,
Tell me I'm crazy, (maybe I know).
Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.

When he goes away,
Dat's a rainy day,
And when he comes back dat day is fine,
De sun will shine!
He kin come home as late as can be,
Home without him ain't no home to me,
Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.

Recorded By:

Ella Fitzgerald
Lena Horne
Barbra Streisand
Ava Gardner
Maude Maggart

The Lonesome Road

By Gene Austin & Nat Shilkret
1927

Austin himself was the first to record this song, and it became so popular that it was actually incorporated into the 1929 film adaptation of the Broadway smash Show Boat, the first modern musical. In fact, it was the only song not by composers Oscar Hammerstein & Jerome Kern to be featured in the movie.

Lyrics:

Look down, look down
That lonesome road,
Before you travel on.

Look up, look up
And seek your maker,
'fore Gabriel blows his horn.

Weary toting such a load,
Heading down that lonesome road.

Look down, look down
That lonesome road,
Before you travel on.

True love, true love,
What have I done,
That you should treat me so?

You caused me
To walk and talk
Like I never done before.

Weary toting such a load,
Trudging down that lonesome road.

Look down, look down
That lonesome road,
Before you travel on.

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Jimmy Lunceford
Louis Armstrong
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Nat King Cole