Good Night, My Darlings
When life gives a bum rap, don’t kvetch and don’t bitch,
for weeping solves nothing, it’s better to chortle
when forced to strike out once delivered the pitch
that tells us the game’s up since we’re only mortal.
“Good night, my darlings, I’ll see you tomorrow, ”
the famous last lines of Sir Noël, no coward,
are well worth recalling when, grieving with sorrow,
despair grows like weeds in the hearts when joy flowered.
John Simon reviews “The Letters of Noël Coward, ” edited with commentary by Barry Day (“Sir Noël’s Epistles, ” NYT Book Review, November 25,2007) :
The astute English critic Kenneth Tynan identified Broadway humor as being chiefly of two kinds: Jewish and homosexual. He might have called it kvetch and bitch, perfectly good types, but not really British. Noël Coward, who was only one of those two things, specialized in neither type in his oeuvre. He kept it all for his correspondence. So “The Letters of Noël Coward, ” edited and commented on by Barry Day, may come as a surprise to most readers. It abounds in both kinds of humor, as only Sir Noël (knighted very late in life owing to obstruction by Winston Churchill) could dish it out. But it follows like Day the knight that, given the editor’s several books of Cowardiana, what we get is much more than just Coward’s letters, however delectable…
As Tynan perceptively wrote, “Coward took the fat off English comic dialogue; he was the Turkish bath in which it slimmed.” In 1973, at a gala performance of the revue “Oh, Coward! , ” he made his last public appearance (I was there) . Leaning on Dietrich more than escorting her, he was asked if he enjoyed the show. Answer: “One does not laugh at one’s own jokes — but I went out humming the tunes.” On the closing night of his life, in Jamaica with his secretary Cole Lesley and his companion, the actor Graham Payn, he took leave with, “Good night, my darlings, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Dead on the morrow, he didn’t get to see them. But we, happily, will see him in his immortal plays, as another famous Scotsman put it, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
11/26/07
poem by Gershon Hepner
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In fields where lay they're keeping their sheep
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For all to see there was a bright star shining in the east beyond them far
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(traditional, arranged by elvis presley)
The first noel the angels did sing
Was to certain poor shepherds
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In fields fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winters night that was so deep
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The First Noel
(TraditionalBrian Ahern)
The first Noel, the angel did say,
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
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Shining in the the East, beyond them far;
And to the earth it gave great light,
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O'er Bethlehem it took its rest;
And there it did both stop and stay,
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The First Nol
The first Noel, the angel did say,
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
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The First Noel
The first noel, the angel did say,
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winters night that was so deep.
Noel, noel, noel, noel,
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Shining in the east, beyond them far;
And to the earth it gave great light,
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Born is the king of israel.
And by the light of that same star,
Three wise men came from country far;
To seek for a king was their intent,
And to follow the star wherever it went.
Noel, noel, noel, noel,
Born is the king of israel.
This star drew night to the northwest,
Oer bethlehem it took its rest;
And there it did both stop and stay,
Right over the place where jesus lay.
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Born is the king of israel.
Then entered in those wise men three,
Full reverently upon their knee;
And offered there in his presence,
Their gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.
Noel, noel, noel, noel,
Born is the king of israel.
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Submitted by Lucian Velea
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First Noel (I Like Christmas)
The first noel
The angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
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That was so deep
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song performed by by Eve 6
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The First Noel
The first noel
The angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds
In fields where they lay
In fields where they
Lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winters night
That was so deep
Noel, noel, noel, noel
Born is the king of israel
They looked up
And saw a star
Shining in the east
Beyond them far
And to the earth
It gave great light
And so it continued both day and night
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And let us all
With one accord
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That hath in heaven and earth of nought
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Born is the king of israel
Born is the king
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song performed by by Air Supply
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The First Noel
The first noel, the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds,
In fields as they lay
In fields where they
Lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winters night, that was so deep
Chorus:
Noel, noel
Noel, noel
Born is the king of israel
When they looked up, and saw a star
Shining in the east, beyond them far
And to the earth, it gave great light
And so it continued both day, and night
Chorus (2x)
(noel, noel)
Chorus (4x)
song performed by by Vanessa Williams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The First Noel
(traditional)
The first noel
The angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds
In fields as they lay
In fields where they lay
Keeping their sheep
On a cold winters night
That was so deep
They looked up
And saw a star
Shining bright in the east
Beyond them far
And to the earth
It gave great light
And so it continued
Both day and night
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Noel,noel
Born is the king of israel
song performed by by Olivia Newton-John
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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