A pretty girl is like a melody that haunts you night and day (a popular song by Irving Berlin)

The pale moon was rising above the green mountain
The sun was declining beneath the blue sea
When I strayed with my love to the pure crystal fountain
That stands in beautiful vale of Tralee.

She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer
Yet, 'twas not her beauty alone that won me
Oh no! 'Twas the truth in her eye ever beaming
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

The cool shades of evening their mantle were spreading
And Mary all smiling was listening to me
The moon through the valley her pale rays was shedding
When I won the heart of the Rose of Tralee.

Though lovely and fair as the rose of the summer
Yet, 'twas not her beauty alone that won me
Oh no! 'Twas the truth in her eye ever beaming
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee. (William Pembroke Mulchinock 1820-1864)

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Now in the Louvre, Paris, Leonardo’s famous painting is also known as “La Gioconda” and “La Jaconde.“ Both titles can be translated as “the jocund lady”, though it’s possible that it was so named because the subject may have been the wife of Francesco del Giocondo.

Throughout the past 400 years, people have talked and argued about her smile. The writer Lawrence Durrell suggested “She has the smile of a woman who has just dined off her husband.”

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To complete the trio of pretty girls, here is “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” by Debussy (1862-1918), played by Tony Tobin. The photographs are of the Claude Debussy Museum at St. Germaine-en-Laye, the house in which the composer was born.



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The first post of my new blog EIGHTY PLUS FOUR (an Octogenarian looks back) can now been seen at -

http://80plus4.blogspot.com
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