Only Make Believe

Rodgers & HammersteinShow Boat

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Only Make Believe

Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II  Music By Jerome Kern

Gaylord Ravenal and Magnolia meet by chance on the wharf and are instantly smitten. To abide by the laws of social propriety, they pretend to have known each other already.

This “almost” love song, in which the romantic leads express their attraction conditionally, became a signature of Oscar Hammerstein’s work. Later examples include “If I Loved You,” “People Will Say We’re In Love” and “Some Enchanted Evening.”

The first successful recording of “Only Make Believe,” sung by Bing Crosby with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, was released on January 27, 1928. Other notable recordings include renditions by Barbra Streisand, Burl Ives, Elvis Presley, Peggy Lee and Tony Bennett.

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“Only Make Believe” LYRICS

Ravenal:
Only make believe I love you,
Only make believe that you love me.
Others find peace of mind in pretending—
Couldn’t you? Couldn’t I? Couldn’t we?
Make believe our lips are blending
In a phantom kiss, or two or three.
Might as well make believe I love you,
For, to tell the truth, I do!

Your pardon, I pray.
’Twas too much to say
The words that betray my heart.

Magnolia:
We only pretend,
You do not offend
In playing a lover’s part.

The game of just supposing is the sweetest game I know.
Our dreams are more romantic than the world we see.

Ravenal:
And if the things we dream about don’t happen to be so,
That’s just an unimportant technicality.

Magnolia:
Though the cold and brutal fact is
You and I have never met,
We need not mind convention’s p’s and q’ s.
If we put our thoughts in practice,
We can banish all regret,
Imagining most anything we choose.

We could make believe I love you,
We could make believe that you love me.

Both:
Others find peace of mind in pretending–
Couldn’t you? Couldn’t I? Couldn’t we?

Ravenal:
Make believe our lips are blending
In a phantom kiss or two, or three.

Both:
Might as well make believe I love you.
For, to tell the truth, I do.