Riviera (song)

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[edit] History

The Riviera is a song written and composed by Cy Coleman and Joseph McCarthy, Jr. in 1956. The song was popularized by Mabel Mercer but the version best known is that performed by Blossom Dearie.

Here is a 30-second sample of the song from Amazon.com: link

[edit] Lyrics

The Riviera,
On every street a gay casino
Where continentals sip their vino
And leave their fortune to chance.

The Riviera,
Where matrons draped in Paris fashions
Prolong the twilight of their passions
In mad pursuit of romance.

Every gay mademoiselle
Is disarming some maharajah
With the daring of her décolletage.
Life is so completely zany and free
By the Mediterranean Sea.

Ah, the Riviera,
Where every golden coat of suntan
Has cost the gold of more than one man
Who wasn’t warned in advance.

He may take to his heart
All the wonders of France,
Then as a token for the dough that he’s sunk
He gets a little label slapped on his trunk,
The Riviera.