My Funny Valentine
Music By Richard Rodgers Lyrics By Lorenz Hart
First sung by Mitzi Green in the 1937 Broadway debut of Babes in Arms, “My Funny Valentine” is undoubtedly one of the most famous entries in the Great American Songbook. In the context of the musical, the lyric concerns Valentine “Val” LaMar, the show’s charming but “slightly dopey” protagonist. But the song’s gender-neutral lyrics, referencing the subject’s charms and endearing flaws, made it universal, appealing to a wide variety of popular singers. The playfully romantic lyric, set to Rodgers’ hauntingly bittersweet melody, launched “My Funny Valentine” into immortality as a jazz standard; the song has appeared on over 1300 albums performed by more than 600 artists, including Chet Baker, for whom it became a signature song.
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"My Funny Valentine" Lyrics
Behold the way our fine-feathered friend
His virtue doth parade.
Thou knowest not, my dim-witted friend,
The picture thou hast made.
Thy vacant brow and thy tousled hair
Conceal thy good intent.
Thou noble, upright, truthful, sincere
And slightly dopey gent –
You’re…
My funny valentine,
Sweet comic valentine,
You make me smile with my heart.
Your looks are laughable,
Unphotographable,
Yet you're my favorite work of art.
Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?
But don't change your hair for me,
Not if you care for me.
Stay, little valentine, stay.
Each day is Valentine's Day.
"My Funny Valentine" by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
©1937 by Chappell & Co., Inc. Copyright Renewed.
Copyright Assigned to Williamson Music and WB Music Corp. for the extended renewal period of copyright in the USA.
International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.