While watching Letty's Jack Haley song, I noticed this song by Ann Southern. I always associated this one with the Elizabeth Taylor film of the same name. Turns out, it was written in 1940 and was in the 1941 movie, Lady Be Good, where Southern did this clip. The info with the video is incorrect, Gershwin did not write this one. It was done by Hammerstein and Kern and was the only song they did not write to order, and was unusual because the lyrics were written before the music. It was written right after France fell to the Germans in 1940, which explains the particular poignancy in Southern's rendition, and her expression of sadness and concern. The lyrics, "No matter how they change her, I'll remember her that way..." went beyond mere nostalgia, because of the German occupation. I think Southern really nails this one, when you listen to it and remember the context in which it was written.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BmOKL6UQ-I&feature=related
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
Her streets are where they were, but there's no sign of her
She has left the Seine
The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay,
I heard the laughter of her heart in every street caf‚
The last time I saw Paris, her trees were dressed for spring,
And lovers walked beneath those trees and birds found songs to sing.
I dodged the same old taxicabs that I had dodged for years.
The chorus of their squeaky 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
Children who applauded, Punch and Judy in the park
And those who danced at night and kept our Paris bright
'til the town went dark
