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"Vertigo" - by Billy Eckstine

Biography

William Clarence 'Billy' Eckstine (1914–1993) was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era.

Vertigo (1958)

Initially envisaged as promotional tool for Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo, Eckstine recorded a Livingston and Evans composition entitled "Vertigo" with Hal Mooney and His Orchestra.[1]

Author Dan Auiler quotes Hitchcock as telling Livingston and Evans, "Gentlemen, the [film] studio thinks that no one knows what the word 'vertigo' means, but that's what my picture is about, and if you will write a song explaining what the word 'vertigo' means, it will help me a great deal."[2]

The song is included as a bonus track on the re-release of Eckstine's 1958 album "Billy's Best!".

Audio

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Lyrics

Down to the depths
Up to the heights
Giddy with joy
Crazy with fear
These are my nights

You make me dance
You make me glow
Then you're like ice 
In my paradise
It's 40 below

    This vertigo is driving me insane, my love
    This vertigo that has me spinning like a top
    Where will it stop?

I wish you would be
Just one way with me
Be warm as you should
Or leave me for good
And let me be free

Your changeable heart
Just tears me apart, you know
As round and around
On this merry-go-round, I go

Vertigo
Vertigo

    This vertigo is driving me insane, my love
    This vertigo that has me spinning like a top
    Where will it stop?

I wish you would be
Just one way with me
Be warm as you should
Or leave me for good
And let me be free

Your changeable heart
Just tears me apart, you know
As round and around
On this merry-go-round, I go

Vertigo
Vertigo

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Notes & References

  1. Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic (1998) by Dan Auiler, page 165
  2. Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic (1998) by Dan Auiler, pages 145-46