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about
The song “Mona Lisa” was written for a spy movie, the setting of which was in Italy, soon after the end of WWII. It was entitled, “Captain Carey, USA,” and the song won an Academy Award for Best Original Movie Song in 1949. The songwriting duo of Jay Livingston & Ray Evans were tasked to come up with an instantly identifiable melody that, in the movie, signaled potential danger.
Nat King Cole sang the song with orchestral backing in the early 1950’s, setting the standard. To my knowledge, it wasn’t recorded again until Willie Nelson covered it, and released it on his “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” record, in 1981.
Earlier this year, I decided that I wanted to learn to sing and play the song, “Mona Lisa,” using my guitar as accompaniment. There was no template to follow, but the lyrics and chords could be found online. The song seemed tricky in spots, until I discovered it to have been written in 3/4 time. That is waltz tempo.
It took a good amount of repetition, but I finally cracked “The Code.” It was after the fact, that I was able to watch the movie, and found that I had indeed sung it as it had been covered by the Italian guitar player and vocalist in the movie.
After I had recorded the melody, playing my guitar, and singing, my friends joined me, adding their instruments in succession: Ben Beckendorf, ably added some Fender electric bass guitar; Elana James, fiddle player, added some classic “Italian Dressing” to the mix, so to speak, and Jim Christian played mandolin, countering most every musical phrase the violin would play, throughout. To me, the interplay just sounds like a work of Art. (pun intended)
I am just happy to have done my part, and to be able to play my guitar and sing, with my talented friends. It turned from being that catchy little tune, into what I would contend, is, a Grand Waltz.
lyrics
Mona Lisa
Jay Livingston & Ray Evans
Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa men have named you;
You're so like the lady with the mystic smile.
Is it only 'cause you're lonely they have blamed you
For the Mona Lisa strangeness in your smile?
Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Li - sa,
Or is this your way to hide a broken heart?
Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep;
They just lie there, and they die there.
Are you warm, are you real, Mona Li - sa,
Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art.
__
Finale
Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Li - sa,
I was a 20 years old pre-med student when I was given a Gibson Guitar for Christmas in 1970. I took to it. Music had long
been a part of my life. I started whistling when I was 2 years old, and called it my horn. I cut my teeth on Hank Williams… Summer of 1972, I met a Blues Guitar playing sharecropper named, Mance Lipscomb, who advised me to, “Be the best at what you do.” I took that to heart....more
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