From the film “Captain Carey, U.S.A”, 1949
Words and music by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
In a villa in a little old Italian town
Lives a girl whose beauty shames the rose
Many yearn to love her
But their hopes all tumble down
What does she want? No one knows
Refrain
Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa men have named you
You’re so like the lady with the mystic smile
Is it only cause you’re lonely they have blamed you
For that Mona Lisa strangeness in your smile?
Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa
Or is this your way to hide a broken heart
Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep
They just lie there, and they die there
Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa
Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art?
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: