Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Vintage wit

I enjoyed these lyrics, which are from a song called "Gather Lip Rouge While You May" that was featured in the 1933 Fox movie musical My Weakness, starring Charles Butterworth and Lilian Harvey, a British comedienne.

Gather lip rouge while you may
You'll never feel much younger
Why not appease that hunger
While you may?

Let yourself be led astray
While you are still worth leading
So many lips are pleading
Night and day

Buzz around
As a busy bee does
Cover ground
Work as hard as he does
Time will fly, wait and see
Someday you won't be the bee that you used to be

When the right one comes your way
She'll never let you waver
You'll have to like one flavor
Gather lip rouge while you may

Here are a couple of versions of the song for your listening pleasure -- a 1934 recording by Richard Himber and his Orchestra, with singer Joey Nash, and a Real Audio stream of a 1933 recording by Bill Scotti And His Hotel Montclair Orchestra, with Harold Von Emburgh on vocals.

Posted by brett at 02:07 PM
Comments

Yes, I agree, the lyrics and music are clever and funny. I've heard a recording of this song sung by Alice Faye from a Rudy Vallee radio program.
Her voice gives it more oomph and playfulness, and the back-up band is jazzier,but the recording quality is pretty poor.

Posted by: Doug on July 20, 2009 11:52 AM
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