No. 4:  The Love song of Dr Watson: Acknowledgments

The Love Song of Dr Watson uses quotations from a number of other songs, or, if you prefer, Dr Watson’s impassioned rendering in front of an open window back in the 1880s released into the ether a number of fragmentary literary and musical suggestions that were picked up decades later by lyricists and composers well attuned to the music of the cosmos.

Once I had a secret love
that lived within the heart of me,
but now my secret love’s no secret any more.
    Once I had a secret love / Sammy Fain & Paul Francis Webster
    From Calamity Jane (movie) (1953)
    First two lines plus last line substituting but for and.
I’ve just meat a girl named Miss Jekyll,
    Maria
    From West Side Story / Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim,
    music by Leonard Bernstein (1957)
    Subsituting Miss Jekyll for Maria
sweeter than honey or treacle,
    linking line following the melody of Maria more or less
and she’s the secret love that I adore.
    Secret love / Fain/Webster (Calamity Jane, 1953)
Gertrude, her name is Gertrude,
    link
it’s a grand old name,
    Mary’s a grand old name / by George M. Cohan (1906)
and suddenly my life will never be the same
    Maria / Sondheim/Bernstein (West Side Story, 1957)
    substituting my life for that name
I’m laughing at clouds, so dark up above,
the sun’s in my heart and I’m ready for love.
    Singing in the rain, from the film Hollywood revue of 1929 / by
        Arthur Fireed and Nacio Herb Brown
I have often walked down that street before,
but the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before.
    On the street where you live
    From My fair lady / lyrics Alan Jay Lerner, music Frederick Loewe (1964)
Suddenly I’m
    link
somewhere over the rainbow,
way up high,
    Somewhere over the rainbow
    From The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
watching the clouds and rain go,
watching them all go by
    Link
The sun has got his hat on, so shout hip hip hooray,
the sun has got his hat on and he’s coming out to play.
    The sun has got his hat on
    From Me and my girl (1937)
    Lyrics Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber, music Noel Gay
Love is a many splendored thing
    Popular song: music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster (1955);
    used as theme song for the film Love is a many splendored thing (1955) and the soap opera based on the movie.
and it makes me feelbetter than any king
    added linking line
Every minute I get bolder
    MA! (He’s Makin’ Eyes At Me)
    Music: Con Conrad / Lyrics: Sidney Clare, 1921
there’s a bluebird on my shoulder,
it’s the truth, it’s actual
    Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, from the Disney film Song of the South (1946).  Music by Allie Wrubel, lyrics by Ray Gilbert.
Ahem – You see, Holmes, my account is entirely factual
    Added linking line.
You can call me a cock-eyed optimist
    A cock-eyed optimist, from South Pacific (1949).  Music by Richard Rodgers, book by Oscar Hammerstein II.
but every day is like the first day of spring
    “Every day would be the first day of spring” from If I ruled the world, throm the musical Pickwick.
    Words by Leslie Bricusse, music by Cyril Ornadel.
London’s enshrouded in a rosy mist …
oh how I wish I knew how to sing.
I hope, Holmes it happens to you.
    Added linking lines
You’ve got to have a dream
if you don’t have a dream
how [the Dickens] can you have a dream come true
    Bloody Mary’s song, You’ve got to have a dream, from South Pacific (1949).  Rodgers and Hammerstein.  “The Dickens” added.
G-G-G-Gertrude, beautiful Gertrude!
    K-K-K-Katie, beautiful Katie: words and music by Geoffrey O’Hara (1918)
Now my secret love’s no secret any more
    Once I had a secret love / Sammy Fain & Paul Francis Webster
    From Calamity Jane (movie) (1953)