Lover

Concerning Lee's 1952 recording of "Lover", famous for its musical departure from the composer's intent, does anyone know if its departure from the original lyric has been discussed? (I'm pretty sure composer Richard Rodgers did not mention the change to the lyric.)

Here is the relevant part of Lorenz Hart's lyric:

Lover, when I’m near you,
And I hear you speak my name,
Softly, in my ear you breathe a flame.
Lover, it’s immoral,
But why quarrel with our bliss
When two lips of coral want to kiss.
I say the devil is in you,
And to resist you I try.
But if you didn’t continue I would die.
Lover, please be tender,
When you’re tender fears depart,
Lover, I surrender to my heart.

Lee changes the last line to "Lover, please surrender to my heart!" This, I think, makes the lyric a little less coherent. For the change pictures the speaker of the lyric as (for want of a better word) the seducer and the addressee as the seduced – a picture at odds with the earlier lines: "I say the devil is in you, / And to resist you I try. / But if you didn’t continue I would die." But the change enables Lee to end her performance with a glorious phrase, dripping with sensuality, in which the imperative verb "Surrender!" is twice repeated. I would certainly sacrifice a little coherence for an ending like this one.

One can maybe understand the new last line as forming a coherent whole with the rest if one utilises the distinction between lust and love. Up until the new last line, the lyric is all about lust, on both sides. Could it be that the last line is meant as a plea that the lust can take its place in enduring love ? The "heart" isn't mentioned before.

It's also worth noting that Peggy Lee sometimes toned down lyrics. in "I Don't Know How to Love Him", she sings "known so many men" instead of "had so many men". In her Decca recording of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", "my fine finnan haddie" (ooh, the double entendre!) becomes "some fine finnan haddie".

Thanks, Paul, for your comment. To me Peggy’s singing sounds no less lustful when she reaches the end of the song than it had earlier. In the final moments she creates the impression of a magnificent femme fatale, a magnificent temptress (I realise that the words I’ve just used are problematic). So I am reluctant to think she changed the lyric to suggest a shift away from lust to something purer.

Peggy was a musician and may have changed a line in a song because it sounded better to her musically or suited her phasing more. After hearing Some Cats Know it's hard to believe she ever toned anything down.