There’s no better occasion to perform “Lush Life” (1936) than during the Pride month. Billy Strayhorn wrote this song when he was just 19. It wasn’t revealed until he passed away that he is actually gay. This song was originally called “Life is Lonely”. Somehow when Duke Ellington was performing, people always ask for “that song about lush life” so eventually the song has its new name.
Recorded at Lion’s Den Cocktail Lounge, San Francisco. Last Day of June 2023.
Lyrics
I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come what may places
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life
From jazz and cocktails
The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingué traces
That used to be there you could see where
They'd been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o'clock tales
Then you came along with your siren song
To tempt me to madness
I thought for a while that your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness
Of a great love for me
Ah, yes, I was wrong
Again I was wrong
Life is lonely again
And only last year
Everything seemed so sure
Now life is awful again
A troughful of hearts
Could only be a bore
A week in Paris/Lion's Den could ease the bite of it
All I care is to smile in spite of it
I'll forget you I will
And yet you are still
Burning inside my brain
Romance is mush
Stifling those who strive
I'll live a lush
Life in some small dive
And there I'll be
While I rot with the rest
Of those whose lives are lonely too