From the operetta “Bitter Sweet”, 1929
Words and music by Sir Noel Coward
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
Your romance could not live the length of a day
You hesitate and analyse
Betray your love with compromise
Till glamour fades away
And all too soon you realize
That there is nothing left to say
Hey-hey, hey-hey
How does she get that way
She’d be more light-hearted
If she started to Charleston
She’s never danced it
She’s never chanced it
Perhaps her muscles are disinclined
Perhaps she hasn’t the strength of mind
Love that’s true can mean naught to you but a name
A thing that isn’t part of you
Can never touch the heart of you
It’s nothing but a game
A fire without a flame
We find it difficult to grasp your meaning
Maybe the past is intervening
We very much regret that times have changed so
Life is more speedily arranged so
In your world of swiftly turning wheels
Life must be extremely grey
We’ve no time to waste on Love ideals
That which to our senses most appeals
Is all we can obey
No, no, not so
There must be something further on
A vision you can count upon
To help you to acquire
A memory when youth is gone
Of what was once your heart’s desire
Refrain:
There is a call that echoes sweetly
When it is Spring and Love is in the air
Whate’er befall, respond to it completely
Though it may bring you sadness and despair
Fling far behind you
The chains that bind you
That love may find you
In joy or strife
Though fate may cheat you
And defeat you,
Your youth must answer
To the Call of Life