Some Enchanted Evening (song)

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"Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.

In the show, it is sung as a solo by Emile de Becque, the French plantation owner, who falls in love with the American navy nurse Nellie Forbush. In this song he sings of seizing the moment so that it won't slip away.

In the film version, the song is sung by Giorgio Tozzi, who dubbed for Rossano Brazzi.

According to the running commentary on the DVD release of South Pacific, this song provides an example of Hammerstein's use of verbs in a song. The DVD commentary mentions that Lehman Engel remembered how Oscar Hammerstein II wanted to write a song that used verbs, but waited ten years to do so before he wrote this song. The song is rich with verbs, such as "see", "hear" and "find."

Besides recordings by Ezio Pinza (original cast album) and Perry Como (biggest hit version), several other versions were recorded; see below.

[edit] Recorded versions

Perry Como (recorded March 1, 1949)
Bing Crosby (recorded March 10, 1949)
Al Jolson (recorded May 31, 1949)
John Laurenz
Ezio Pinza (recorded April 18, 1949) for the Original Broadway cast recording of South Pacific
Jo Stafford (recorded March 9, 1949)
Frank Sinatra (recorded February 28, 1949)
Bryn Terfel (recorded October 1995) (1996) - Something Wonderful: Bryn Terfel Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein
Paul Weston and Orchestra (instrumental)
Willie Nelson
Jay and the Americans
Carl Mann (1960)
José Carreras (1986) for a studio cast recording of South Pacific with Kiri Te Kanawa, Mandy Patinkin and Sarah Vaughan
Jon Bon Jovi - on Ally McBeal
The Temptations (1995, For Lovers Only)
Philip Quast for the 2002 London revival cast recording of South Pacific
Giorgio Tozzi (1958 for the film soundtrack, 1967 for the Lincoln Centre revival cast recording with Florence Henderson
Barbra Streisand (from her 1993 album Back to Broadway)
Harrison Ford in American Graffiti
Paulo Szot - Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific (The New Broadway Cast) (2008)

Preceded by "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend" by Vaughn Monroe	*U.S. Billboard* Best Sellers in Stores number-one single** July 30–August 27, 1949	Succeeded by "You're Breaking My Heart" by Vic Damone