Song-ography

April 2016 - Toronto ON

I was at the Art Gallery of Ontario recently and saw this Roy Lichtenstein painting.


Roy Fox Lichtenstein October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. His work defined the basic premise of pop art through parody.Favoring the comic strip as his main inspiration,



The words intrigued me and I discovered it referred to the 1927 song "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael (Lichtenstein loved jazz). The painting is housed in Housatonic Museum of Art and another copy signed by Lichtenstein is kept in Neuberger Museum of Art.

The woman on the image, holding a microphone, was likened to modern character of Betty Draper from Mad Men. The painting was described as being among those that "don't lower art to the level of the comic strip but raise the comic strip to the level of high art". A version of The Melody Haunts My Reverie from 11 Pop Artists, Volume II was sold at Christie's for $17,250.

While googling this I came upon a blog with this painting as its header and titled "The Dark Melody Haunts My Reverie".

I found a version of the song by Nat King Cole.

"Stardust"

And now the purple dusk of twilight time

Steals across the meadows of my heart

High up in the sky the little stars climb

Always reminding me that we're apart

You wander down the lane and far away

Leaving me a song that will not die

Love is now the stardust of yesterday

The music of the years gone by

Sometimes I wonder why I spend

The lonely night dreaming of a song

The melody haunts my reverie

And I am once again with you

When our love was new

And each kiss an inspiration

But that was long ago

Now my consolation

Is in the stardust of a song

Beside a garden wall

When stars are bright

You are in my arms

The nightingale tells his fairy tale

A paradise where roses bloom

Though I dream in vain

In my heart it will remain

My stardust melody

The memory of love's refrain

Song-ography is hosted by You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, a fantastic photographer and funny lady.