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A Kiss To Build a Dream On

Written: 1935 (current title and revised lyric, 1951)

Music by: Harry Ruby

Words by: Bert Kalmar
and Oscar Hammerstein

Written for: A Night at the Opera
(movie, 1935 -- song cut from movie, later used in the movie The Strip, 1951)

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On the Main Stage at Cafe Songbook


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video before starting another.)

Wesla Whitfield

performing live

"A Kiss To Build a Dream On"

with Mike Greensill, piano, on Charles Grodin's New York,
1995 (Wesla includes the verse in this performance.)

Wesla Whitfield recorded "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" on the album Nice Work (1995)

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More Performances of "A Kiss To Build a Dream on"
in the Cafe Songbook Record/Video Cabinet
(Video credit)

 

Cafe Songbook Reading Room

"A Kiss To Build a Dream On"

Critics Corner || Lyrics Lounge

About the Movie The Strip / Origins of the Song


Thomas S. Hischak,
The Tin Pan Alley Song Encyclopedia, Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 2002 (pp. 200-201).

Songs performed in the movie A Night at the Opera currently included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook:

  1. All I Do Is Dream of You

 

For a complete listing of songs used in the original production of this show/movie, see IMDB soundtrack.

 

According to Thomas Hischak in his Tin Pan Alley Song Encylopedia, Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar wrote a song titled "Moonlight on the Meadow" in 1935 for the Marx Brothers movie A Night at the Opera, but it was not used. The songwriters, who after many tries were unable to interest a publisher in the song, showed it to Oscar Hammerstein II, who liked the melody, took an interest and suggested a new title as well as some changes in the lyrics. The song became "A Kiss To Build a Dream On," which was finally introduced by Kay Brown and Louis Armstrong in the 1951 movie The Strip.

Amy Asch in The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II tells the story a bit differently. She indicates that Ruby, Kalmar and Hammerstein collaborated on the song originally, but after being dropped from A Night at the Opera it lay in storage at MGM until Abe Olman, an MGM executive, rescued it in 1949, which led to its introduction in The Strip two years later.

The Library of Congress catalog of copyright entries supports Asch's contention that Hammerstein was involved in the original composition of 1935: "Moonlight on the meadow; w and m Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Oscar Hammerstein II. © 1 c. Oct. 19, 1935; . . . Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer co., New York."

In any case, it was nominated for the Academy Award for best song for 1951 but lost to the Hoagy Carmichael - Johnny Mercer song "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening."

 

The Kay Brown Introduction of "A Kiss to Build a Dream on" in the 1951 movie The Strip.
Kay Brown singing "A Kiss To Build a Dream on" (while being observed by Mickey Rooney) in
The Strip.
YouTube Video Maker credits
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Critics Corner
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Lyrics Lounge


Click here to read the lyrics for "A Kiss To Build a Dream On." This version of the lyrics does not include the verse. To hear the verse sung, listen to Wesla Whitfield on the
Cafe Songbook Main Stage above. As Wesla sings the verse, it goes as follows:

How am I to bear this separation?
Give me just a little hope to cling to,
Fan the flame of my imagination,
So I can dream till we meet again.

Editor's note: Wesla Whitfiled is in the habit of singing the verse in virtually all of her performances and recordings, a habit not shared by many other performers. Checking The Complete lyrics reveals that her rendering is true to the original.

The complete, authoritative lyrics for "A Kiss To Build a Dream On" can be found in:


book cover: "The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II"
The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II, Amy Asch (Ed.),
New York: Alfred A. Knoph/Borzoi Books, 2008.

Click here to read Cafe Songbook lyrics policy.

(This section is currently in preparation.)

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Visitor Comments

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Posted Comments on "A Kiss To Build a Dream on":

 

Sean, 10/27/2014: Hi, I wonder can anyone help me or point me in the right direction. I'm just completing an independent Irish film called BANSHEE BLACKTOP, An Irish Ghost Story and would love to use Kay Brown's wonderful rendition of A KISS TO BUILD A DREAM ON in our final scene...but I cannot seem to find any information as to Kay Brown's estate to ask for usage in the movie...does anyone have a link or a contact, someone I could chat to about it? The movie is low budget and we don't have much funds but I was hoping at least we could communicate with someone who would know...would appreciate any help, Thanks in advance, Sean Garland

Cafe Songbook, 10/28/2014: Typically rights are controlled through ASCAP or BMI licensing agencies. You may find something on either of their websites.

Cafe Songbook, 11/09/2014. There's a good chance Kay Brown never recorded "A Kiss To Build a Dream On" but only perfromed it in the movie The Strip (MGM 1951). If this is true, rights to use that portion of the soundtrack would have to be obtained from MGM, or a third party to whom they might be able to direct you. Try Googling MGM Rights/Permissions or something of the sort.

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Credits

(this page)

 

Credits for Videomakers of custom videos used on this page:

  • Wesla Whitfield:
  • Kay Brown, "A Kiss to Build a Dream on" in The Strip: jfmanluke

Borrowed material (text): The sources of all quoted and paraphrased text are cited. Such content is used under the rules of fair use to further the educational objectives of CafeSongbook.com. CafeSongbook.com makes no claims to rights of any kind in this content or the sources from which it comes.

 

Borrowed material (images): Images of CD, DVD, book and similar product covers are used courtesy of either Amazon.com or iTunes/LinkShare with which CafeSongbook.com maintains an affiliate status. All such images are linked to the source from which they came (i.e. either iTunes/LinkShare or Amazon.com).

 

Any other images that appear on CafeSongbook.com pages are either in the public domain or appear through the specific permission of their owners. Such permission will be acknowledged in this space on the page where the image is used.

 

For further information on Cafe Songbook policies with regard to the above matters, see our "About Cafe Songbook" page (link at top and bottom of every page).

This section is currently incomplete.

The Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet:
Selected Recordings of

"A Kiss To Build a Dream On"


(All Record/Video Cabinet entries below
include a music-video
of this page's featured song.
The year given is for when the studio
track was originally laid down
or when the live performance was given.)

Performer/Recording Index
(*indicates accompanying music-video)

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  • Performer 2 (year)

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