Hoagy Carmichael

Another favorite, Stardust was the signature piece for Hoagy Carmichael, another man whom my dad resembled. The older they got, the more they looked alike. This was copyrighted in 1929, but I played this one often as a child.

The left side was repaired with contact paper, essentially ruining the value of the sheet music. But at least, it is intact.

Roxanne, at http://melange1.blogspot.com/ mentioned the words to these old songs, and how nice and uplifting they are. This one is no exception, and I love the story they tell:

"And now the purple dusk of twilight time
steals across the meadows of my heart,
high up in the sky the little stars climb,
always reminding me that we're apart.

You wandered down the lane and far away,
leaving me a song that will not die,
Love is now the star dust of yesterday,
The music of the years gone by.

Sometimes I wonder why I spend the lonely night,
dreaming of a song? The melody haunts my reverie,
and I am once again with you,
when our love was new, and each kiss an inspiration.

But that was long ago, now my consolation is in the star dust of a song.
Beside the garden wall, when stars are bright, you are in my arms,
the nightingale tells his fairy tale
of paradise where roses grew.
Though I dream in vain, in my heart it will remain:

My stardust melody, the memory of love's refrain."

They sure don't write 'em like that anymore!