It seems like a good day to dip back into the great American songbook, so how about Irving Berlin’s “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody.” Said ABC Radio in 1945: “If the Ziegfield Follies glorified the American girl, it was Irving Berlin who painted her picture in music. Here’s a song that reflects all the beauty and charm of its lovely inspiration.” This one is old enough to be in the public domain, so I can post the full lyrics:
I have an ear for music,
And I have an eye for a maid.
I like a pretty girlie,
With each pretty tune that’s played.
They go together,
Like sunny weather goes with the month of May.
I’ve studied girls and music,
So I’m qualified to say…A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day,
Just like the strain of a haunting refrain,
She’ll start up-on a marathon
And run around your brain.
You can’t escape she’s in your memory.
By morning night and noon.
She will leave you and then come back again,
A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune.
Unlike some of the other songbook standards I’ve posted, this one has not been covered as much recently. But here is a classic recording by Mario Lanza. Fred Astaire also danced to the song in “Blue Skies.”