A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

This is our answer to Tommy Dorsey's "Will You Still Be Mine?"—same yearning question, aimed back at him. It's also a bit of a trick song, and a structural gimmick that wasn't common for the period. The first time through, the words are built to last: seasons turning, letters slowing, nothing you couldn't still sing a decade later without anybody blinking. Then the band takes it around again, same tune, half a step higher, and the words come back completely different— suddenly crammed with the actual moment: Sinatra on the radio, ration books, War Bond ads, election promises. A song about being remembered forever, immediately dated on purpose, twice in the same three minutes.

Adele Montoya sings the lead here, your heard her before with Richard Perkins in "Keep Your Kisses in Your Pocket," where you'll find her biography. Worth adding for this one: because the second half of the lyric sheet was rewritten every few weeks to keep the topical verses current as the tour went on, Adele griped, good-naturedly, that hers was the only act on the circuit who had to relearn half her own song before every stop.

Will you remember me past summer,
When the evenings lose their gold?
When the breezes turn to warnings
And the nights grow sharp and cold?
Will you keep my name beside you
When the daylight starts to flee?
When the autumn shadows gather…
Will you remember me?

Will you remember me past winter,
When the frost is on the pane?
When the letters slow their journey
Through the snow and sleet and rain?
Will you hold our promise lightly,
Like a leaf upon a tree?
When the world feels far and fragile…
Will you remember me?

Will you remember me past springtime,
When the blossoms start to show?
When the marching bands are playing
And the flags are all aglow?
Will you keep your heart unbroken
Till the day I'm finally free?
When the trumpets call us homeward…
Will you remember me?

Will you remember me past summer,
When Sinatra's on the air?
When the jitterbugs go dancing
And the sailors crowd Times Square?
When the movies show brave heroes
Who look nothing much like me—
When the newsboys shout of headlines…
Will you remember me?

Will you remember me past autumn,
When the G.I. mail runs slow?
When the Victory Gardens wither
And the ration books run low?
When the radio's crackling static
Makes the crooners sound off-key—
When the jukebox plays the Andrews…
Will you remember me?

Will you remember me past winter,
When the snowstorms stall the trains?
When the War Bonds ads get louder
Than the big bands' bold refrains?
When the gossip columns whisper
Who's been seen with whom at three—
When the censors cut the kissing…
Will you remember me?

Will you remember me past springtime,
When the ballots start to sway?
When they promise peace and sunshine
If we vote the proper way?
When the brass bands drown the speeches
And the crowds all disagree—
When the future's looking sideways…
Will you remember me?

I'll remember you.