Like me…
Rick Jolley
Heartland West

And thanks for your thoughts, and for expressing them so articulately. My only cavil is that the second verse is a tad whiny for my taste. Which may be perfectly appropriate for the character in the show (I’ve never seen it, so I can’t say), but perhaps isn’t suitable for a pop standard.

On the other hand, there’s something nice about really respecting the author’s intentions, isn’t there?

Have a look around, Harvey, and see if there are any other posts that catch your fancy.

Re “most recorded versions forgo the second verse, and for good reason”: For me, no reason is good enough for destroying the exquisitely subtle finishing touch of Andersen’s poetry, the rhyme between “came my way” and “time of day”.

The first verse has the rhyme-and-rhythm pattern abaaab, where the a-lines have long meter and rhyme using a short vowel, and the b-lines are the opposite. But just when the rhyme and rhythm indicate the verse should end, an extra foot is tacked on (“my way”). This disturbs both the rhyme and the rhythm, sending the verse into overtime to resolve the tension by repeating the line without the disturbing extension. But this still leaves something unresolved: the extended penultimate line doesn’t rhyme with anything. This nags subconsciously until the second verse repeats the entire rhyme/rhythm pattern, this time finally tying up the loose end. It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth time I heard this song that I realized why “…time of day” sounds so sweet.

Of course Weill’s music is the big attraction of this song, but the poetic lyrics should be given their due. These lyrics are surely a masterpiece; casually dropping a verse is not appropriate.