From the comic opera “The Madcap Duchess”, 1913
Words by David Stevens
Music by Victor Herbert
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Denese Coulbeck:
Lyrics
- The story of Love has a pedigree
That dates from the primal birth,
As old as the sands of the oldest sea
As old as the hills of the earth
Some tales we hear many times rehearsed
Are spoiled in the telling we know
But this is the same as they told it first
Ten thousand years ago
Chorus
Love is a story that’s old, old
Love is a story that’s old
But the best one that ever was told, told
The best one that ever was told
For ages it has stood, you see
On Time’s dim page enrolled
It’s old because it’s good, you see
And good because it’s old
It’s old because it’s good, you see
And good because it’s old
- Wherever you turn you will hear the tale
And ever the same it goes
As old as the song of the nightingale
As new as the bloom of the rose
‘Tis heard in the laugh of the merry maid
The vow of the sighing swain
They’ve told it before, but are not afraid
To tell it once again
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: