Shirley Bassey - What Now My Love (1962 Recording)

1962 (Shirley Bassey recorded and released this Columbia Single in 1962. Nelson Riddle arranged the music for this song, and he and his orchestra recorded this song with Shirley)

This song, What Now My Love, was recorded and released as a Shirley Bassey EMI/Columbia Single and it first hit the UK charts on January, 9 1962. This song was also included on Shirley's 1962 EMI/Columbia LP titled, 'Let's Face The Music'. Both the single and the LP were top 10 hits for Shirley. The single peaked at #5, and it stayed on the charts for over 4 months. Shirley's version of this song is the highest ranked recording in regards to record sales, but the live versions by Judy Garland and Elvis Presley both significantly have contributed to keeping this song well known around the world for the past 50+ years. Shirley has been very faithful to this song, and has included it in her live concert line-up many times during her world wide concert tours.

ABOUT this Song:
"What Now My Love" is the English title of a popular song whose original French version, "Et Maintenant" ("And Now") was written in 1961 by composer Gilbert Bécaud and lyricist Pierre Delanoë. English language lyrics and the title were written by Carl Sigman:

US top 40 covers include Dame Shirley Bassey. In 1962, Bassey's collaboration with Nelson Riddle and his orchestra produced the album Let's Face the Music (#12) and the single "What Now My Love" (#5). Other artists singing this song include Sonny & Cher in 1966, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass instrumentally in the same year, and Mitch Ryder the following year. On January 14, 1973, Elvis Presley performed the song before a live audience of 1 billion people, as part of his satellite show, "Aloha from Hawaii", which was beamed to 43 countries via INTELSAT.

LYRICS:
What now my love?
Now that you've left me
How can I live
Through another day?
Watching my dreams
Turning to ashes
And my hopes
Into bits of clay
Once I could see
Once I could feel
Now I'm numb
I've become unreal
I walk the night
Without a goal
Stripped of my heart
My soul

What now my love?
Now that it's over
I feel the world
Closing in on me
Here come the stars
Tumbling around me
There's the sky
Where the sea should be
What now my love?
Now that you're gone
I'd be a fool To go on and on
No one would care No one would cry
If I should live Or die

What now my love?
Now there is nothing
Only my last
Good-bye

Special Thanks to Pieter, Astrid and others from the Shirley Bassey blog, Tal from the Diamond Bassey website, and all those who have contributed wonderful pictures of Shirley!