“In The Wee Small Hours – 70 Years of a Masterpiece. Chapter 11 – Repertoire: “Last Night When We Were Young”
“Last Night When We Were Young”
(Harold Arlen and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, 1935)
This song was originally written with the intention of being included in the 1935 film Metropolitan, starring operatic baritone Lawrence Tibbett (1896–1960), but it was ultimately left out of the final cut. Tibbett recorded his version in 1936, but it wasn’t until Judy Garland’s interpretation in 1951 that the song began to gain new recognition, attracting the interest of singers and instrumentalists. Over time, it became a cherished standard, performed by artists such as Carmen McRae, Tony Bennett, and Art Farmer.
The lyrics evoke a deep sense of nostalgia for the days of youthful love, when everything felt fresh and full of promise. Once passion fades and the loved one is gone, reality turns somber: dawn, instead of bringing hope, only heightens the sorrow. Sunlight reveals objects and places laden with memories, now heavy with emotional weight.
Though not written specifically for the album, the inclusion of this song in In the Wee Small Hours (1955) fits seamlessly with the album’s overall mood of introspection and melancholy. Nelson Riddle’s orchestral arrangement is lush and dramatic, opening with a passage that suggests the movement of waves—a metaphor for the ebb and flow of memories, which distort the singer’s sense of time and space. Sinatra’s performance builds in a steady emotional crescendo, culminating in a desperate cry as he recalls the embrace of his lost love, then fades into a tender sotto voce that dissolves into the same wave-like motion that closes the piece so masterfully.
“Last night when we were young
Love was a star, a song unsung
Life was so new, so real so right
Ages ago last night
Today the world is old
You flew away and time grew cold
Where is that star that shone so bright
Ages ago last night?
To think that spring had depended
On merely this: a look, a kiss
To think that something so splendid
Could slip away in one little daybreak
So now, let’s reminisce
And recollect the sighs and the kisses
The arms that clung
When we were young last night”
Article written by Mahnuel Muñoz (Al Mal Tiempo, Frank Sinatra) https://www.facebook.com/groups/120950148274703/
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