"If Ever I Would Leave You"

Robert Goulet singing
"If Ever I Would Leave You" (1962)

By Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

1965 Album
by Robert Goulet

Robert Goulet singing (1962)
"If Ever I Would Leave You"

Preface: For Song #49, I've selected Robert Goulet singing "If Ever I Would Leave You" (1962). The music was by Frederick Loewe and lyrics and a book by Alan Jay Lerner. It is based on the legend of King Arthur as adapted from the 1958 novel The Once and Future King by T. H. White. The original 1960 production, directed by Moss Hart with orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and Philip J. Lang, ran on Broadway for 873 performances, winning four Tony Awards. It starred Richard Burton as Arthur, Julie Andrews as Guenevere, & Robert Goulet as Lancelot. It spawned several notable productions including four Broadway revivals and a 1967 film adaptation. This is Robert Goulet's signature song. Lyrics.

If ever I would leave you
It wouldn't be in summer.
Seeing you in summer
I never would go.
Your hair streaked with sunlight,
Your lips red as flame,
Your face with a lustre
That puts gold to shame!

But if I'd ever leave you,
It couldn't be in autumn.
How I'd leave in autumn
I never will know.
I've seen how you sparkle
When fall nips the air.
I know you in autumn
And I must be there.

And could I leave you
Running merrily through the snow?
Or on a wintry evening
When you catch the fire's glow?

If ever I would leave you,
How could it be in springtime?
Knowing how in spring I'm bewitched by you so?
Oh, no! not in springtime!
Summer, winter or fall!
No, never could I leave you at all!

© Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com
August 23, 2023