jarre • webster
The four first notes of this song has been carved into Ray Conniff's grave marker in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, LA. Reason? It became his choir and orcestra's most remarkable recording ever.
Originally "Lara's Theme" had no name. It was composed by Maurice Antoine Alexis Jarre (1924 – 2009) for the 1965 movie "Doctor Zhivago", as well as the rest of the film music. To the composer's confusion it recurred almost all the time, and in his opinion supressed other themes.
Still, the soundtrack left it no name nor own track, and the music was instrumental. People were humming the theme after leaving the cinema.
Short after the movie's success, Paul Francis Webster (1907 – 1984) picked up the theme, and wrote lyrics for it. Connie Francis intended to record it first, but hesitated and delayed it because of some issues not annotated. She finally made it, but Conniff grabbed it first, and won the battle. Both versions charted, though: all over the world.
My reason for singing this is duplex. It reminds me of my childhood and early youth. The song was almost a plague on the radio, especially the norwegian FM channel for sailors abroad, which was my favorite. I've never liked children's songs and such shit, and went directly on to the real stuff. Moreover; I've always had a thing about good melodies, whatever the genre.
The second reason will follow. First the basic. From the first recording, the two titles of the song have been juxtaposed.
somewhere my love there will be songs to sing
although the snow covers the hope of spring
somewhere a hill blossoms in green and gold
and there are dreams • all that your heart can hold
someday we'll meet again my love
someday whenever the spring breaks through
you'll come to me out of the long ago
warm as the wind • soft as the kiss of snow
till then my sweet : think of me now and then
God speed my love till you are mine again
For the following CHORD section, fullscreen/horizontal mobile is recommended.
Chords in brackets may be omitted.
D A7 Aaug D F#m D7 Bdim7 A7 somewhere my love there will be songs to sing Em G A Em A7 D although the snow covers the hope of spring D A7 Aaug D F#m D7 Bdim7 A7 somewhere a hill blossoms in green and gold Em G A Em A7 D ...D7 and there are dreams all that your heart can hold G Em D someday we'll meet again my love F Dm C Aaug A7 someday whenever the spring breaks through D A7 Aaug D F#m D7 Bdim7 A7 you'll come to me out of the long a...go Em G A Em A7 D warm as the wind soft as the kiss of snow D A7 Aaug D F#m D7 Bdim7 A7 till then my sweet think of me now and then Em G A Em A7 D God speed my love till you are mine again
The second, and maybe the main reason, is that I often play this first: soft, straight and short, then slide into another song, narrating a truncated story.
A bluegrass singer/songwriter watched the movie, and got caught by the hopeless love between Lara and Yury. He kept this in mind, sitting down writing one of the most brilliant country tunes ever, swapping the arena to the USA and letting a hobo declare an eternal love. The man was John Hartford, and the song was Gentle on My Mind.
The musical world has odd connections ...
