Star Dust

Words & Music by Mitchell Parish & Hoagy Carmichael, 1929
Recorded by Nat "King" Cole, 1943
Featured in the 1993 movie "Sleepless In Seattle"


G9      G      G+7    G         C9
And now the purple dusk of twilight time

 B7                              E     E-9    E     E7  
Steals across the meadows of my heart.

 Am            Cm       G      G/F#    Em
High up in the sky the little stars climb,

 F#       F#7             D    Fdim  D7 
Always reminding me that we're  a - part.


	G9      G        G+7      G   C9
You wandered down the lane and far away.

 B7                              E   E-9  E   E7 
Leaving me a song that will not die. 

 Am              Cm          G  G/F# Em
Love is now the stardust of yes-ter-day,

    D7    Gdim      Am7  Cdim  G   Cm   G
The music  of  the years gone  by.


Melody:

G+7   G   G9 CM7    C     Am       C         F 
Sometimes I wonder why I spend the lonely night

 F7			   G      G/F#   Em  Bm7-5    E7
Dreaming of a song.   The mel-o-dy haunts my reverie,              

   Am7    E7  Fdim        Am7    Fdim   Am
And I am once again with you.

          D  Fdim  D7           D+      G6     D+  G6  
When our love was new, and each kiss an in-spi-ra-tion,

     A9           G    A7           G
But that was long ago; now my consolation 

D7        Am7      C    D7     D+
Is in the stardust of a song.


   CM7    C     Am        C            F7
Beside a garden wall when stars are bright, 

Fm7/9		     G   G/F#    Em  Bm7-5            E7
You are in my arms; the nightingale tells his fairy tale

   Am7    E7       Fdim     Am7     Fdim     Am
Of par-a-dise where ro-ses grew.

		 D   A7  D7          G    G/F# Em   B+  F#7   B7
Though I dream in vain, in my heart  it  will re-main:

   C		 C/B    E7  Am7	
My stardust mel-o-dy

        D7     Cdim  Cdim(IV)   G    Am7 alt   Cm    G6
the memory of love's   re  -  frain.


I have seen this song referred to as the best song ever written and given Cole's rendering of this song, there is no way I would disagree with that assessment -- and I simply cannot believe that it ranked no higher than #79 in its 1957 release, but I can't find proof to the contrary. The song was recorded constantly over the years, and with great success, but a huge number of performers, including:
- Artist: Nat King Cole
- peak Billboard position #79 in 1957
- originally written as "Star Dust" in 1927
- charted in 1930 by Irving Mills (#20)
- charted in 1931 by Isham Jones (#1), Bing Crosby (#5), Louis Armstrong (#16), Wayne King (#17), and Lee Sims (#20).
- charted in 1935 by Jimmie Lunceford (#10).
- charted in 1936 by Benny Goodman (#2) and Tommy Dorsey (#8).
- charted in 1939 by Sammy Kaye (#16).
- charted in 1941 by Artie Shaw (#2), Tommy Dorsey (#7), and Glenn Miller (#20).
- charted in 1943 by Baron Elliot (#18) and Tommy Dorsey (#23).
- charted in 1957 by Billy Ward and His Dominoes featuring Jackie Wilson (#12).
- charted in 1962 by Frank Sinatra (#98)
- charted in 1964 by Nino Temple and April Stevens (#32).
(Historical information from Lyrics World)



 
The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.