SKU: A0.1213917

Yesterday When I was Young is a song composed by Georges Garvarentz and written by Charles Aznavour and released in September 1964.  The original French title translates to Just yesterday or Not so long ago.

It is considered one of Aznavour's greatest hits.

The English-language lyrics, written by Herbert Kretzmer, tell of someone reflecting on his life, recalling how he had wasted his younger years.

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]
Yesterday when I was young
The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned
I always built, alas, on weak and shifting sand
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day
And only now I see how the years ran away

[Verse 2]
Yesterday, when I was young
So many drinking songs were waiting to be sung
So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out
I never stopped to think what life was all about
And every conversation I can now recall
Concerned itself with me, me and nothing else at all
[Verse 3]
Yesterday the moon was blue
And every crazy day brought something new to do
I used my magic age as if it were a wand
And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride
And every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away
And only I am left on stage to end the play

[Outro]
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday
When I was young
Young, young...

SKU: A0.1227903

This arrangement of The Last Time I Saw Paris is written as played by piano artist, Liberace.  It contains an introduction, by Liberace, using parts of the French song, Clair De Lune by Claude Debussy.

The Last Time I Saw Paris is a song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, published in 1940.  It was sung in the 1941 film Lady Be Good by Ann Sothern.

By December 1940, six versions of the song were on the charts, with Kate Smith having exclusive radio rights for the song for six weeks. The song catered to a wartime nostalgia for songs about European cities following the Second World War Battle of France (which brought Paris under Nazi control), with A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square also proving popular.

The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1941. This was Kern's second Academy Award for Best Original Song (following his success with The Way You Look Tonight in 1936), and Hammerstein's first.

Władziu Valentino Liberace(May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor.  A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures, and endorsements. At the height of his fame from the 1950s to 1970s, he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world!

Lyrics:

(Verse)
A lady known as Paris
Romantic and charming
Has left her old companions
And faded from view

Lonely men with lonely eyes are seeking her in vain
The streets are where they were
But there's no sign of her
She has left the Seine

(Chorus)
The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay
I heard the laughter of her heart
In every street cafe

The last time I saw Paris
Hеr trees were dressеd for spring
And lovers walked beneath those trees
And birds had songs to sing

I dodged the same old taxicabs
That I had dodged for years
The chorus of their squeaking horns
Was music to my ears
 
The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay
No matter how they change her
I'll remember her that way

I'll think of happy hours
And people who shared them
Old women selling flowers
In markets at dawn

(Bridge)
Children who applauded Punch and Judy in the park
And those who danced at night and kept our Paris bright
Till the town went dark

(Chorus)
The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay
I heard the laughter of her heart
In every street cafe

The last time I saw Paris
Her trees were dressed for spring
And lovers walked beneath those trees
And birds had songs to sing

 
I dodged the same old taxicabs
That I had dodged for years
The chorus of their squeaking horns
Was music to my ears

The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay
No matter how they change her
I'll remember her that way

I'll think of happy hours
And people who shared them
Old women selling flowers
In markets at dawn

SKU: A0.1317916

About my solo piano arrangement of I'll Be Home For Christmas

My Solo Piano Arrangement of I'll Be Home For Christmas is written in a jazz-latin type style. I wrote it out note for note, and even included fingering and sustain pedal suggestions. I also included jazz chord symbols for those of you that either like to know what harmonies I was thinking, or want to add their own ideas based on those chords. The chords I used are pretty much based on the original harmony. 

When I started out arranging for solo piano I was especially curious about how to create a latin groove underneath a melody. I studied bossa and samba music as well as cuban music for that. The rumba is a great style to start with. That's also the bases for this arrangement. 

About the song I'll Be Home For Christmas

I have a very special relationship to this song. I first heard it after moving to the United States from Germany and spending my first Christmas in Chicago. On that Christmas Eve I was all alone for the first time, and when I turned on the radio this song came on. I don't easily cry, bad that was one of those moments when the floodgates just open up. It is such a sentimental song. And the closing lyrics I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams are just so emotional in this context.

Enjoy!

SKU: A0.1241593

A traditionl Country-Style arrangement of Could I Have This Dance; from the movie Urban Cowboy.

Could I Have This Dance is a song recorded by the Canadian country music artist Anne Murray. It was used in the 1980 film Urban Cowboy and appeared on both the Urban Cowboy soundtrack album for that film, as well as on the Anne Murray's Greatest Hits compilation album, issued in late 1980. Later on, it also appeared on Murray's 2007 album Anne Murray Duets: Friends & Legends, performed as a duet with Amy Grant.

As a single, it was released in August 1980 and became Murray's fifth number one country hit as a solo artist. It went to number one for one week and spent a total of ten weeks on the country chart.  Could I Have This Dance was also Murray's tenth Top 40 on the U.S. pop singles chart, peaking at number 33.  The song was written by Wayland Holyfield and Bob House.

Lyrics:

I'll always remember the song they were playin'
The first time we danced and I knew
As we swayed to the music and held to each other
I fell in love with you

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
When we're together it feels so right
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

I'll always remember that magic moment
When I held you close to me
As we moved together, I knew forever
You're all I'll ever need

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
When we're together it feels so right
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
When we're together it feels so right
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

SKU: A0.1243139

A traditional country arrangement of the Hank Williams classic, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry is a song written and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1949. The song has been covered by a wide range of musicians. 

Williams was backed by members of the Pleasant Valley Boys: Zeke Turner (lead guitar), Jerry Byrd (steel guitar) and Louis Innis (rhythm guitar), as well as Tommy Jackson (fiddle) and Ernie Newton (bass).

Lyrics:

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

[Verse 2]
I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind the clouds
To hide its face and cry

[Verse 3]
Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
Like me, he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry

[Verse 4]
The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry.

SKU: A0.1011298

I am a Singaporean pianist and composer. I have studied the piano since 5 years old under Mr Joseph Toh and I graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts with a Diploma in Music in 2013, majoring in Music Composition under Malaysian composer Mr Chong Kee Yong and Singaporean composer Mrs Joyce Koh Bee Tuan. 

About Sky I & II

This set of short pieces is composed in 2013. 

Sky I is a piece of chance music. This piece is composed using the I-Ching, which is one of the compositional tools by the famous US composer, John Cage. I chose a total of 37 out of the 64 notes for this piece, of which they are deduced from the hexagram in the I-Ching.

Sky II is a piece derived from Sky I, hence one can say Sky I is the fundamental of Sky II. The note values of Sky II are the opposite of Sky I. This means that a short note value in Sky I is actually represented in Sky II as a longer note value. the range of the notes in Sky II are translated accordingly to Sky I. 

Sky I & II is dedicated to my piano teacher and uncle, Mr Joseph Toh.