Song Of The Nose 1899 'Cyrano de Bergerac'

by James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 23 Mar 2006
2006

What makes a man a soldier or a poet?
What makes a man succede at any game?
I fancy ev'rybody doesn't know it,
but I've a theory about the same.
It's luck, or brains, or birth some may suppose,
some think it is a shrewd and clever wife:
but listen and the secret I'll disclose,
the thing that makes a man succeed in life.

It's the influence of an ambitious nose;
it is that which always leads
on to great and noble deeds;
it's the feature where in character e'er shows,
you need never further seek,
than the large aggressive beak:
and the bigger 'tis the better I suppose.
And if it is really small,
you're no earthly good at all.
Oh, a man can truly state
when another's really great,
if he diagnoses Cyranose's nose.

For instance what made Gen'ral Julius Caesar?
It wasn't brains or good luck not a bit.
'Twas the magnitude of his fine Roman sneezer.
His nose was great, he imitated it.
Then there was that smart soldier Alexander.
His nose was Greek, but big,
I beg to state.
He followed it, became a great commander:
and so with all the ancients really great.

It's the influence of an ambitious nose;
it is that which always leads
on to great and noble deeds;
it's the feature where in character e'er shows,
you need never further seek,
than the large aggressive beak:
and the bigger 'tis the better I suppose.
And if it is really small,
you're no earthly good at all.
Oh, a man can truly state
when another's really great,
if he diagnoses Cyranose's nose.

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
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Song Of The Nose 1899
from "Cyrano de Bergerac"
Music by Victor Herbert
Lyrics by Harry B. Smith
© MDCCCXCIX by M. Witmark & Sons.
*
sequence and karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Thursday 23 March 2006 at 22.34
in association with Doug Grierson
*