Star dust
Hoagy Carmichael and Friends Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that were apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust
Of yesterday
Of the years
Gone by
Chorus:
Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song.
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you.
When our love was new, and each kiss an inspiration.
But that was long ago, and now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song.
Beside the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew.
Though I dream in vain, in my heart you will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of loves refrain.
"Star Dust" is a song describing the reminiscence of a love that has long gone, which is represented by the "stardust of yesterday" and "the music of the years gone by." The singer of the song recalls his lover wandering down the lane and leaving him with a song that he cannot forget. The song is so vivid in his memory that it haunts his reveries, and every feeling it invokes leads him to question why he spends lonely nights dreaming of the past.
The song’s second stanza uses imagery to paint a picture of an idyllic setting where the singer reminisces about his lost love. He imagines himself holding his lover while standing beside the bright stars and listening to the nightingale. The singer admits that these memories will remain with him, though they are just a reflection of his lost love. Stardust is used symbolically in the song to represent a love that has faded yet still remains a beautiful and treasured memory.
Line by Line Meaning
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
The time when the sun has just set, and the sky is darkening, and it's the beginning of the night.
Steals across the meadows of my heart
The feeling of the twilight darkness spreading to influence the singer's mood.
High up in the sky the little stars climb
The stars become more noticeable as the night progresses and become visible in large numbers.
Always reminding me that were apart
The stars remain a constant reminder of the separation between the artist and the person they love.
You wander down the lane and far away
The person the artist loves leaves and journeys somewhere else.
Leaving me a song that will not die
The person left behind creates a song to commemorate the person they love, and the song will be forever alive and played often.
Love is now the stardust
Love is represented as the particles that constitute stardust.
Of yesterday
The love the artist had with the person is now referenced from the past.
The music
The melody of the artist's song.
Of the years
The duration of time that has passed since the love between the two people was alive.
Gone by
The time that has transpired since the love died away.
Sometimes I wonder why I spend
Despite everything, the artist will often wonder why they remain fixated on the love they can't have.
The lonely nights
Nights where the singer feels isolated from others and consumed by their thoughts.
Dreaming of a song.
The song is the only outlet for the singer's feelings, and their dreams frequently mention it.
The melody haunts my reverie
The melody of the song remains with the singer even when they are thinking about other things.
And I am once again with you.
The song brings the artist back to the memory of being with the person they loved.
When our love was new, and each kiss an inspiration.
The time when the love between the two people was fresh, and every kiss felt incredibly meaningful.
But that was long ago, and now my consolation
The realization that the love they once shared is long gone.
Is in the stardust of a song.
The only consolation the singer has left is in the song they created to commemorate the love they shared.
Beside the garden wall, when stars are bright
A scene in which the artist is next to a garden wall, with stars lighting up the sky, with the person they love.
You are in my arms
The artist is holding the person they love in their arms, and they are both happy.
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
The nightingale in the garden tells a tale to the artist, much like the song they created.
Of paradise where roses grew.
The nightingale's tale describes a wonderful paradise, where they grew roses.
Though I dream in vain, in my heart you will remain
Even though the artist's dreams cannot be fulfilled, they will always carry the person they love in their heart.
My stardust melody
The song that the singer created in memory of the love they shared.
The memory of loves refrain.
The song continues to give the singer a memory of something meaningful to cherish, even if the love has ended.
Lyrics © Roba Music Verlag GMBH, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, O/B/O DistroKid, Capitol CMG Publishing, Sentric Music, Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust Ave, MUSIC.INFO FINLAND OY, Peermusic Publishing, Reservoir Media Management, Inc., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Mitchell Parish, Hoagy Carmichael
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@coreywiley3981
Sometimes I wonder
Why I spend the lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
Oh, but that was long ago
Now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Beside a garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart, it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain
Though I dream in vain
In my heart, it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain
@mrchdant
STARDUST (aka STAR DUST) and my father's famous history.
It has been just 18 years since my father, Charles "Bud" Dant, left our world, and recently I was in Manhattan to hear Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks with Peter Mintun, got me thinking about Dad's fascinating early history with the famous song Stardust--certainly, one of the most beautiful and most popular songs (over 1500 recordings) ever written. Hoagy Carmichael wrote the melody in 1929, later having recorded it at the Gennett Recording Studios in Richmond, Indiana. Later lyrics were added by Mitchell Parish.
But, as I have heard my own father tell this story many times and which has been recounted in Richard Sudhalter's Stardust Melody ...had it not been for my father's association with Hoagy Carmichael, Stardust may have had a different journey.
So indulge me:
Just before his college days, Dad went down from his hometown in Indianapolis to Bloomington to play for sorority dances at Indiana University. This was around 1925 and Hoagy was on campus at that time, playing a dance at the Kappa Sig house, his fraternity. He found out about Dad playing on campus and sent out the word for his group to come over after his dance was finished. My father picks up the story:
"In front of the house, he had this big open truck, with heavy sides and on it, was the Book Nook's [the local restaurant/bar] piano... ."
Hoagy says: "Get on, Bud, we're goin' for a serenade and we're gonna jam."
They got rolling with Hoagy at the piano, my father on cornet. He told us about one tune he wrote in Havana, Cuba and they played a bit of that...and then he said:
"Bud, here's another good tune we can jam with"
"What's the title?" my father asked.
"It doesn't have a title. It's just a jam tune," Hoagy said.
He starts playing a tune with a medium-fast tempo.
My father says "At least it starts on a four (sub-dominant) chord and that makes it a little different."
They jammed the tune for 15 minutes as they rolled the truck to one sorority house after another--and they got pretty good with it.
Dad continues: "I didn't think too much of it--and I don't think we were always with Hoagy. When we were playing, we couldn't hear him too much," Dad said.
The night ended and everyone scattered for home, and nothing much was made or said about that night.
The number they were jamming that night? A melody that shortly thereafter would become STARDUST!
About three or four years later, my father was urged by Hoagy to come to Bloomington and enroll in Indiana University, and after much argument with my grand parents, Dad decided to head off to school and ended up pledging Hoagy's fraternity, Kappa Sigma even before he became a student!
Hoagy Carmichael was a rare musical genus at the piano, inventing songs, playing wildly in his head but as my father said "he couldn't read or write music."
As my father recounted: "He had to have me no matter what, because I was the only guy he knew that could write music....and in those days, he would take me down to the Book Nook and buy me lunch."
And more often than not, he'd start talking about that song they played on the back of that flat-bed truck some years earlier.
"He'd even written out a lyric of sorts," my father said. Couldn't Dant write an arrangement?
Dad continued: "I said, Hoagy, I haven't played that tune since that night we first played it. I'd never played the melody before. I don't know the melody or anything. Play it for me. You know what he did? He planked out the chorus of the song, his jazz chorus, his paraphrase on the melody, but not the melody itself," my father said.
Finally, my father, if only to lay the matter to rest—agreed to write an arrangement. And that arrangement was the very first time STARDUST had been written onto sheet music.
Below is a photograph of Hoagy Carmichael at that very piano in the Book Nook...it was taken on a different day than that fateful day but the date was close to the 1929 date when this happened.
The early early history of STARDUST is ripe with stories from many, but this, I believe, is an accurate accounting from my father, whose memory of events was accurate, as I later learned from others who told me stories I had heard.
@bernadettekhan399
The Crown brought me here. However I remember my grandfather talking about Hoagy, but I was to young then to appreciate the song and the voice x
@brentscarborough3700
My mom once told me this was her favorite song, but couldn't remember who sang it. When watching the 5th season, Episode 4, of The Crown, they played it! However, Mom's now 100 years old and wouldn't recognize it if I played it. Doctors are giving her about a month left to live, and I wish she could hear it and remember it one last time. I'm going to play it for her anyway.
@HappyZazzling
Aww I hope she remembers <3
@brentscarborough3700
@How To Zazzle Thx! Sadly, she didn’t remember it (I didn’t think she would).
@mt_vu_rx_jukeboxhero
@Brent Scarborough I always mix this up I've been through this before I get the name of this associated with an instrumental … it just goes Daã Daã Daà Daå DuDuDu Dah Dah Dah Dah DDDaa$ ☎️📞🔦 it must be a Benny Goodman
@mt_vu_rx_jukeboxhero
@How To Zazzle yeah I think it will stick , it was a magic click to from Hoagey on Wikipedia to Tin Pan Alley being sort of a Tower of Babel of sheet music sort of fell down and some of those artists remained since the late 19th century they have preserved it these 5 brill building took over etc . Then Hoagy is Stoney on on Flintstones or that was first .
@emmashoesmith8161
It was a lovely thing to do for your mum..
I'm sure somewhere deep inside there's a part of her that remembered!
My prayers for you both.
To lose your mum....well I can tell you nothing will ever hurt as much.
@saramn272
the crown brought me here and I'm so glad it did ♥💯
@gregnormal5101
Hello! How are you doing today, please pardon me for intruding into your privacy but I just wanted to know if you’re a fan ? Have a great day.. Stay Safe
@naobe5
Princess Margaret got me here😁