Louisa - Noël Coward

Louisa was a movie queen

Before she’d achieved the age of sweet sixteen

Long before Cagney threw those girls about

Little Louisa tossed her curls about

Later when the talkies came

The whole world resounded to her fame

Each time she married

Every daily paper carried

Headlines blazing her name

Not only headlines

But photographs and interviews

Every thing she did was news that held the world in thrall

Some say she read lines better than Marléne could

No other entertainer could

Compete with her at all

But regardless of the fact

That she could sing and dance and act

And owned furniture that wasn’t «Little Rockery»

And regardless of her gems, which were hers not MGM’s

Her life was one long mockery

Louisa was terribly lonely

Sucess brought her naught but despair

She derived little fun

From the oscars she’d won

And none

From her home in Bel Aire

She said she was weary of living

On this bestial, terrestial plane

When friends came to visit

Their hands she would clutch

Crying, «Tell me why is it I suffer so much?

Oh, if only, if only, if only

My life wasn’t quite such a strain.»

And soon after that she was terribly lonely

All over again

Louisa was terribly lonely

Louisa was terribly sad

It appears that the cheers that had rung in her ears

For years had been driving her mad

She sobbed when men offered her sables

And moaned when they gave her champagne

She remarked to her groom on their honeymoon night

As he tenderly kissed her and switched off the light

«Ohhh, If only, if only, if only

I’d flung myself out of that plane…»

And the very next day she was terribly lonely

All over again

Louisa was terribly lonely

(The girl had no fun)

Louisa was tired of it all

(Not a call from anyone)

She gazed like a dazed, frustrated sphinx

At her hundred and eight new tated minx

And she wrung her hands

And she beat her breast

Crying, «My, my, my, I’m so depressed.»

Nobody knew the troubles she’d seen

Nobody knew, but you-know-who

The tribulations of a movie queen

So, farewell to lovely Louisa

(We'll just let life tease her.)

Let’s leave her searching in vain

(Find someone to explain.)

Why destiny

Singled her out to be

Only

Lonely

Over and over again