only imitations

I think this song was first sung by Mae West in one of her strange, very funny movies that she usually scripted herself.

Billie Holiday sings it. She was -- she still is -- one of the Voices of the Century, like Enrico Caruso.

But Mae West or Billie Holiday, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee ... this song tears at the heart of anyone who's ever loved, and then lost that love, and then many, many years go by ... It's almost impossible to screw up this song.

I hear it in my mind right now, and I see the face of someone who, the last time I saw her, was a very young woman, most people would have called her a girl then. (Associated Press says 16 is the magic transition age.) I went to high school with her, and we never met or spoke again. I don't know what became of her. (I do remember her name.)

Please forgive the gender switch. Billie Holiday is singing in my mind. No reason to search for the CD.

My Old Flame
by Sam Coslow & Arthur Johnston
© 1934 (Renewed 1961) Famous Music Corporations (ASCAP)

My old flame
I can't even think of his name
But it's funny now and then
How my thoughts go flashing back again
To my old flame

My old flame
My new lovers all seem so tame
For I haven't met a gent
So magnificent or elegant
As my old flame

I've met so many men
With fascinating ways
Fascinating gaze in their eyes
Some who sent me up to the skies
But their attempts at love
Were only imitations of

My old flame
I still can't remember his name
And I'll never be the same
Till I discover what became of
My old flame