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Speak Low
Music: Kurt Weill
Lyrics: Ogden Nash


Sheet music
Speak Low was written by Kurt Weill (music) and Ogden Nash (lyrics) in 1943, and was originally performed in the musical One Touch of Venus.


This is how the melody begins. Those three notes in a bracket with the number 3 are called triplets. We divide two beats' worth of time into three and give a note to each of the three segments.


Here's the chorus section's beginning. We have triplets here too. Indeed they're all over this song, making the melody distinctive and unique.

(Lyrics excerpt)
Speak low, when you speak love
Our summer day withers away too soon too soon
Speak low, when you speak love
Our moment is swift like ships adrift
We're swept away too soon (..omitted..)

Time is so old and love so brief
Love is pure gold and time a thief
We're late, darling we're late
The curtain descends, everything ends too soon too soon
I wait, darling I wait
Will you speak low to me, speak love to me and soon
Performances