“From 1975 until her passing in 1990 I had the joy of performing and recording with the great Sarah Vaughan. ‘Sentimental Again’ was inspired by and is dedicated to Sarah. Audra McDonald made it her own with San Francisco Symphony on December 31, 1999, in this New Year’s Eve performance celebrating the start of the new millennium.”
—Michael Tilson Thomas
MTT and Audra McDonald
This recording is of the version for voice and orchestra.
Sentimental Again
Think that you’re clever
‘Til all your very best laid plans go awry
And then you realize that nothing’s forever
So what ya gonna do?
Invent a new and so disarming endeavor
To keep from wondrin’ where the time’s all gone
And why you’re so tired
Or a-buzzing and wired
Yet still sometimes inspired
Never you mind
If your sunny morning starts going gray
It’s much too early to be singing a sorry tune
A hazy afternoon
Can end a wonderful day.
Come by the fire
Let my loving take the sting from your tears
And don’t go thinking that your life was a one-way door
Good things are still in store
No matter what you may fear
Shame and sorrow
Every night it seems as if they’re here to stay
Comes tomorrow,
All at once it’s a brand-new day,
And you think that maybe all’s not lost
And perhaps you just might stray back
To the way that you felt so strong in fond days of yore.
You tell yourself the art of living is what you choose
Everyone wins and loses
And they still beg for more.
Hollow laughter
Oh so many melancholy might-have-beens
Morning after
Not a hell of a lot to do
But go pursue that someone
You never know who
Might be true as an old flame
Who makes sure to check in on now and then
There’s nothing sweeter than the voice of a veteran friend
Someone to call on when you’re getting
Sentimental again
Sentimental…Getting sentimental
I’m getting sentimental again
Sentimental again, getting sentimental again
I’m getting sentimental again
No use to pretend
Every now and then I get so sentimental again
Lyrics by Michael Tilson Thomas
Voice and Orchestra