You Are Beautiful
Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II Music By Richard Rodgers
When Ta calls the story of the Flower Boat Maiden “corny,” Mei-Li disagrees, defending it as a beautiful tale in which the maiden makes the humble scholar realize he is a god.
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"You Are Beautiful" Lyrics
Mei Li:
Along the Hwang Ho Valley,
Where young men walk and dream—
A flower boat with singing girls
Came drifting down the stream.
I saw the face of only one
Come drifting down the stream.
You are beautiful,
Small and shy...
Ta: [spoken]
I've never heard it that way before.
Mei Li: [spoken]
My father always said, to create something new, we must first love what is old.
Now sing it with your heart.
Ta: [sung]
You are beautiful,
Small and shy...
You are the girl whose eyes met mine
Just as your boat sailed by.
This I know of you,
Nothing more.
You are the girl whose eyes met mine
Passing the river shore.
You are the girl whose laugh I heard,
Silver and soft and bright,
Soft as the fall of lotus leaves
Brushing the air of night.
While your flower boat
Sailed away,
Gently your eyes looked back on mine,
Clearly you heard me say:
“You are the girl I will love someday.”
You are the girl whose laugh I heard,
Silver and soft and bright,
Soft as the fall of lotus leaves
Brushing the air of night.
Ta and Mei Li:
While your flower boat
Sailed away,
Gently your eyes looked back on mine,
Clearly you heard me say:
“You are the girl I will love someday.”
"You Are Beautiful" (Rodgers/Hammerstein)
© 1958, Copyright Renewed, Williamson Music Company (ASCAP) c/o Concord Music Publishing.
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.