all that jazz

PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ

Have you seen the well-to-do
Up and down Park Avenue
On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air

High hats and narrow collars
White spats and lots of dollars
Spending every dime
For a wonderful time

Now, if you're blue
And you don't know
where to go to
Why don't you go
where fashion sits

Puttin' on the Ritz
Different types who wear a daycoat
Pants with stripes and cutaway coat
Perfect fits
Puttin' on the Ritz

Dressed up like a million dollar trooper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper
Super-duper

Come, let's mix where Rockefellers
Walk with sticks or "umberellas"
In their mitts
Puttin' on the Ritz

Tips his hat just like an English chappie
To a lady with a wealthy pappy
Very snappy

You'll declare it's simply topping
To be there and hear them swapping
Smart tidbits

Puttin' on the Ritz

1929 Irving Berlin

all this by way of saying congratulations and warm wishes to john textile blog hopper for his new carpet index blog!

reaching for the moon

Frank Sinatra Lyrics

REACHING FOR THE MOON
(Irving Berlin)
[Recorded November 29, 1965, Hollywood]
The moon and you appear to be
so near and yet so far from me,
And here am I, on a night in June,
reaching for the moon and you.

I wonder if we'll ever meet,
my song of love is incomplete,
I'm just the words, looking for the tune, reaching for the moon and you.

[musical interlude]

I wonder if we'll ever meet,
my song of love is incomplete,
I'm just the words, looking for the tune, reaching for the moon and you.

The painting by Taikyu (died circa 1945) of a monkey reaching for the moon on the water also contains a tiny Enso with a larger theme:

The monkey seeks the moon in the water,
chasing after it ceaselessly until death.
If instead, it sinks its hand into the deep spring
the clear, pure moonlight will illume the universe. 1

(image source)

my yiddisha nightingale

1. Miss Minnie Rosenstein
Had such a voice so fine
Just like Tetrazzini
Any time that Minnie sang a song
You'd think of real estate seven blocks long
Some song!

Young Mister Abie Cohn used to call to her home
Just to hear her singing
Presents he was bringing
Full of bliss!
One night young Abie proposed to the Miss
Like this!

Yiddisha nightingale, sing me a song
Your voice has got such sweetness that it makes me strong
Yiddisha nightingale, sing me a song
I promise that I'll take you on a long honeymoon
I'd give a dollar to hear you, my queen

I wouldn't give a nickel to hear Tetrazzini
Just to hear your cultivated voice good and strong
I'd serve a year in jail
Yiddisha nightingale
Won't you sing me a song?

2. Then said young Abie Cohn
"I'm going to buy a home
One that's made of marble
Dear, where you can warble harmony
And I don't care for expenses you see
That's me!

I'll go and learn to play on the piano, say
You'll sing while I'm playing
People will be saying
As they pass
Some class!"

[song by irving berlin; toshikata mizuno; japanese fabric via florizel; charles louis verwee, a belgian, painted 'vanity.' the vase is by ando jubei, from the meiji era in japan; some considered it the golden age for cloisonne created for export, with the encouragement of the government.1 book design by carlos schwabe; george lepape did the artwork, but i don't know the designer....; lastly is flower viewing from shuntei miyagawa.]

the tune is here.