♫ Smoke Gets In Your Eyes ♫ – Redux

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Having just finished a marathon research session for my a.m. post, I was reading an email from a dear friend, and this song, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, was mentioned.  BINGO!, I thought.  But … alas … I find that I played it back in January.  But, you know what?  I’m going to play it again tonight anyway.  I try not to be repititious in these music posts, but … I want this song tonight.  And so …

Tonight, I am taking you back … way back … way way way back, to a time that some of you weren’t even born yet!  The year was 1958, I was seven years old.  But, I remember this song as if it were yesterday.  I loved it then, and I love it still …  Since I am feeling … shall we say nostalgic, in lieu of saying saying ‘sad’ tonight, this one feels somehow right.

The song was originally written in 1933 for the musical Roberta, starring Bob Hope. The lyrics were written by Otto Harbach and the music by Jerome Kern.  The song has been covered by almost anybody and everybody, but the version that is most remembered is the one by The Platters.

In addition to this, a few of my other favourites that year were Splish Splash (Bobby Darin), Tom Dooley (The Kingston Trio), Good Golly, Miss Molly (Little Richard), and Night Time Is The Right Time (Ray Charles).

Those who were around back in 1958 … what were your favourites?

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
The Platters

Baby,
They asked me how I knew
My true love was true
I of course replied,
“Something here inside
Cannot be denied”

They said someday you’ll find
All who love are blind
When your heart’s on fire
You must realize
Smoke gets in your eyes

So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
To think they could doubt my love
Yet today, my love has flown away
I am without my love

Now laughing friends deride
Tears I cannot hide
So I smile and say,
“When a lovely flame dies,
Smoke gets in your eyes”

Smoke gets in your eyes

Songwriters: Jerome Kern / Otto Harbach
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes lyrics © T.B. Harms Co., Polygram International Music Publishing Ltd., Emi Glenwood Music Corporation, MECHANICAL COPYRIGHT PROTECTION SOCIETY LTD, CHAPPELL MUSIC LTD, UNIVERSAL – POLYGRAM INT’L OBO T.B. HARMS CO.

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23 thoughts on “♫ Smoke Gets In Your Eyes ♫ – Redux”

  2. Jill, this song is a great example of The Platters. They had elegance, timing and harmony. Their timing allowed the words and music to be heard. Priceless. Keith

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  5. 1958 was a great year for music, but then, except the disco years, what year wasn’t? Smoke Gets in Your Eyes was one of my favourites, but going through the Billboard Top Fifty brought back a lot of memories, from Volare to Oh Lonesome Me. The only other song I am going to key on is To Know Him is to Love Him by The Teddy Bears. I never really paid attention to their version, but many other groups/duos/single artists have done it. I used the Peter and Gordon offering to great advantage in my unpublished novel, The Cold End of the Bathtub, where I gave the song a totally new meaning. Too bad no one will ever know it…

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    • Oh wow … you’ve mentioned some I haven’t heard or thought of in years! I shall add a couple to the list, but not “Oh Lonesome Me” … too country for me! I must get back to Cold End so I can find out the new meaning you gave the song, though from what I’ve read so far, I can only imagine! 🙄

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      • This one was a shock to me when I wrote it, or rather when I used it. This part of the story starts in Chapter 12 (minus the part from “We filed into the Thunderbird…” to “Next day…”, best left unread) and goes to the end of Chapter 15. But for the song part, it all happens in Chapter 15, if you want to jump right to that part; feel free.
        I believe this to be the best scene I have ever written, but feel free to disabuse me of that thought, lol.

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