FROM THE ARCHIVE 242 -1959-

The Party’s Over
Music written by Jule Styne. Lyrics by Adolph Green and Betty Comden.

Released in 1959 on the album The Fabulous Shirley Bassey and on single in 1960. Live performances are on the albums Live At Carnegie Hall and Live In Japan ’77 and Shirley Bassey has performed it at many more live concerts. It had been in TV 1972 in a Talk Of The Town Special and in 1976 at one of her own shows.

The song is available on CD on the re-released album and on many collections for example on The Love Album.

This song is originally from the musical “Bells Are Ringing” performed by Judy Holliday. The Broadway premiere was on November 29, 1956 and the musical had 924 performances. In 1960 the song was also part of the soundtrack of the movie version starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin. 2001 a revival of the musical including this song ran again on Broadway for 69 performances.

The musical “Bells are Ringing” is about the telephone operator Ella Peterson (Judy Holliday), who works for an answering service and becomes involved in the lives of her customers and helps them to fix their problems.

Lyricist Betty Comden (born 1915 in New York City) studied science before pursuing a career in acting. During the late 1930’s, she befriended Adolph Green (also born 1915 in New York City), himself an aspiring actor as well, and in the early 1940’s they formed the nightclub act trio “the Revuers” together with pal Judith Tuvim. Tuvim became Judy Holliday in Hollywood. Comden / Green wrote “Bells Are Ringing” as a vehicle for their old partner Judy Holliday. Another success of this musical was “Just in Time”. Judy Holliday repeated her stage role for the 1960 movie and sadly this was her last movie – she died at the age of 42. The biggest success of the duo Comden / Green was 1952’s “Singin’ in the Rain”, widely acclaimed as the greatest film musical ever made. 1991 the musical “Will Rogers Follies” by Cy Coleman and the duo became the Tony Award for Best Musical and the album received the Musical Show Album Grammy. That same year, they were also announced as recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors. Betty Comden is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Theatre Hall of Fame.

The composer Jule Styne (born 1905 in London as Julius K. Stein) was very successful as songwriter and showmaker for musicals like “Gypsy” and “Funny Girl” (from which Shirley Bassey also recorded some songs). He worked for example together with Sammy Cahn for Frank Sinatra and other famous artists.

Lyrics:

The party’s over
It’s time to call it a day
They’ve burst your pretty balloon
And taken the moon away It’s time to wind up
The masquerade Just make your mind up
The piper must be paid

The party’s over
The candles flicker and dim
You danced and dreamed through the night
It seemed to be right
Just being with him Now you must wake up
All dreams must end
Take off your makeup
The party’s over
It’s all over
My friend

You danced and dreamed through the night
It seemed to be right
Just being with him Now you must wake up
All dreams must end
Take off your makeup
The party’s over
It’s all over
My friend

(Transcribed by Roman)