The loveliness of Paris seems somehow sadly gay
The glory that was Rome is of another day
I’ve been terribly alone and forgotten in Manhattan
I’m going home to my city by the bay
I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill it calls to me
To be where little cable cars
Climb halfway to the stars
The morning fog may chill the air, I don’t care
My love waits there in San Francisco
Above the blue and windy sea
When I came home to you, San Francisco
Your golden sun will shine for me
Tony Bennett once told an
interviewer: Rock and roll all but ruined me. It seemed that any singer
over
twenty-five who couldn't play a steel guitar was in trouble. The
Sinatras and
the Crosbys had become institutions, but I wasn't anchored yet. Also ,
I lacked
poise and experience. Then I had a date at the Fairmont Hotel in San
Francisco,
and I
thought this may be my last. I wanted some special material and against
the
advice of my cohorts took a ten year old song that had new lyrics about
San Francisco. I recorded
the song - also against managerial advice - and the last I heard it had
sold
more than three million, and I'm still working.
