A Night in Tunisia (Interlude)

Lyrics: None
Music: Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli

According to a 1987 interview with John Kahn, when Jerry Garcia, Kahn and Keith Godchaux briefly formed a jazz piano combo in 1978 informally known as the "Front Street Sheiks", one of the songs they played was "A Night In Tunisia". See here for more information.

I assume they would have played this as an instrumental, as was the original Dizzie Gillespie version. But lyrics were added later, first by Sarah Vaughan (based on the original title "Interlude")

I live in a dream for a moment
We'd loved in a midnight solitude
But I never knew at the moment
Love was just an interlude

I thrill as your arms would enfold me
A kiss of surrender says the mood
Then heaven fell down when you told me
Love's a passing interlude

The magic was unsurpassed
Too good to last
The magic my heart once knew
Is dressed in blue

The shadow of night all around me
I walk in a moonlight solitude
When I thought romance really found me
Love was just an interlude

The shadow of night all around me
I walk in a moonlight solitude
When I thought romance really found me
Love was just an interlude
Then lyrics relevant to the title "A Night In Tunisia" were added by Jon Hendricks (no one seems to know where that title came from)
The moon is the same moon above you
A glow in its cool evening light
The stars are aglow in Tunisia
Never does it shine so bright

The cares of the days seem to vanish
The ending of day brings release
Each wonderful night in Tunisia
Where the nights are filled with peace

The stars are aglow in heavens
But only the wise understand
That shining tonight in Tunisia
They guide you through descent sand

And words fail to tell a tale exoticto be told
Each night's a deeper night in a worldages old

The cares of the world seem to vanish
The ending of day brings release
Each wonderful night in Tunisia
Where the nights are filled with peace
Recordings
     Date Album Recorded By
     1946 Dizzy Gillespie And His Orchestra Dizzy Gillespie
     1995 The Complete RCA Victor Recordings Dizzy Gillespie

 


Home | Find words/phrases| Find Song lyrics| Dead originals| Dead covers|