"Our song" by Into the Music

February 14, 2012

As I write this on a cold Valentine’s Day morning, I’m thinking of the Sea Fare Inn. That’s the former Portsmouth restaurant where Michelle and I shared our first dance as husband and wife more than 20 years ago. It was recently torn down to make room for townhouses, but we still have “our song” and the memory of that first dance.

I’m always surprised by how few couples have their own song — you know, a tune that prompts a knowing smile between two people whenever it pops up on the jukebox, radio or TV. Ours is “You Are Too Beautiful,” a swooning Rodgers and Hart composition from the 1930s. Michelle and I first heard it on our first date in 1986, when we went to see Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters.” Derek Smith’s solo piano version played during the scene in which Barbara Hershey’s character is reading a romantic e.e. cummings poem recommended by her sister’s husband (Michael Caine), who’s fallen hopelessly in love with her. (“Somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond” was read at our wedding, so I guess we have a poem, too.)

Our band was The Moonlighters, a fantastic 14-piece orchestra that specialized in the American Songbook — no “Chicken Dance, no “Celebration.” Perfect. Although “You Are Too Beautiful” wasn’t in the orchestra’s repertoire, band members promised to find an arrangement in time for the reception. They didn’t disappoint, as the song’s familiar strains started up as we were announced to the crowd and took to the dance floor.

But then the band’s singer started, well, singing. “What is she doing? There are lyrics?” we both exclaimed as we spun around the floor. Up until this point we had been familiar only with instrumental versions, so imagine our surprise when we heard: “You are too beautiful for one man alone/For one lucky fool to be with/When there are other men/With eyes of their own to see with.” I guess the context in which the tune was used in “Hannah” should have clued us in. Announcing to our friends and family that I was imagining my bride in the arms of another man was a somewhat inauspicious beginning to a marriage. But we laughed — mainly at ourselves — as we twirled. It was a great first dance.

Although I later grew to love a vocal version of the song — Johnny Hartman, with John Coltrane behind him, did it proud in 1963 — I prefer it sans lyrics, thank you very much. The romantic imagery that the melody conjures up is enough.

Here are the two versions of “You Are Too Beautiful” mentioned above. Which one do you prefer? And if you have your own special song that you share with someone, please share it with us in the comments section. — Jim McGaw

Derek Smith from “Hannah and Her Sisters” soundtrack: