STRANGER IN PARADISE
(Alexander Borodin / George Forrest / Robert C. Wright)

Tony Bennett - 1954
David Whitfield – 1966

Also recorded by:
Ronnie Aldrich; Winifred Atwell; The Bachelors; Stanley Black; 
Ann Blyth; Earl Bostic; Sarah Brightman; Petula Clark; 
Ray Conniff; Bing Crosby; Lorna Dallas; Sammy Davis Jr.; 
Percy Faith; The Four Aces; Ted Heath; Al Hirt; 
Edmund Hockridge; Engelbert Humperdinck; The Ink Spots; 
Jack Jones; London Promenade Orch.; Gordon MacRae; Mantovani; 
Tony Martin; Valerie Masterson; Johnny Mathis; Doretta Morrow; 
101 Strings Orch.; Opera Babes; John Raitt; Della Reese; 
Edmundo Ros; Diana Ross & the Supremes; Sir Harry Secombe;
George Shearing; Keeley Smith; Catarina Valente; ... and others.


Take my hand
I'm a stranger in paradise
All lost in a wonderland
A stranger in paradise
If I stand starry-eyed
That's the danger in paradise
For mortals who stand beside an angel like you

I saw your face and I ascended
Out of the commonplace into the rare
Somewhere in space I hang suspended
Until I know there's a chance that you care

Won't you answer this fervent prayer
Of a stranger in paradise?
Don't send me in dark despair
From all that I hunger for

But open your angel's arms
To this stranger in paradise
And tell him that he need be
A stranger no more


**************
STRANGER IN PARADISE (Ann Blyth & Vic Damone)

from "Kismet" 1955 film


Ann Blyth & Vic Damone w Percy Faith's 
Orchestra & Chorus (film soundtrack)


Oh why do the leaves of that mulberry tree
Whisper differently now?
And why is the nightingale singing at noon
On a mulberry bough?
For some most mysterious reason,
This isn't the garden I know;
No, it's paradise now that was only a garden
A moment ago!

Take my hand,
I'm a stranger in paradise,
All lost in a wonderland,
A stranger in paradise.

If I stand starry-eyed,
That's a danger in paradise
For mortals who stand beside
An angel like you.

I saw your face and I ascended
Out of the commonplace, into the rare.
Somewhere in space I hang suspended,
Until I know there's a chance that you care.

Won't you answer the fervent prayer
Of a stranger in paradise?
Don't send me in dark despair
From all that I hunger for;

But open your angel's arms
To the stranger in paradise,
And tell him that he need be
A stranger no more.

I saw your face and I ascended
Out of the commonplace, into the rare.
Somewhere in space I hang suspended,
Until I know (till the moment I know)
There's a chance that you care. (there's a chance that you care)

Won't you answer the fervent prayer
Of a stranger in paradise?
Don't send me in dark despair
From all that I hunger for;

But open your angel's arms
To the stranger in paradise,
And tell me that I need be
A stranger no more.



(Transcribed by Peter Akers - December 2012)