"Reason or Rhyme" by Bryan Ferry · Cover by Scott Sadowsky

I'd only been vaguely aware of Bryan Ferry until I watched the German series 'Babylon Berlin'. It's set in the 1920s, and has a number of Ferry's songs arranged in the style of the jazz of that era, including "Reason or Rhyme". Few pieces of music, and few lyrics, have ever moved me as much. There may well be no higher expression of bittersweet melancholy than this. In this arrangement I reworked the song as a tango, using the most common configuration of the "orquesta típica": bandoneón, violin, piano and contrabass. In addition, it features the clarinet (not too uncommon in tangos) and the bass clarinet (not too common anywhere). LYRICS: Why must you shed such tender tears in the evening of your years? No other love could stem the tide of the loneliness I hide. Open your heart and let me live all the promises I could give. The sun and moon and all the stars, they bow down to you whenever you pass. In a world of fading sadness, an emerald ring, a photograph, that look in your eyes, the brush of your cheek, these are the moments in life that I seek. No reason or rhyme, no presence of mind, just a dance to the music of time. Inside out, upside down, obscured by clouds, or underground. The sun and moon and all the stars, they bow down to you whenever you pass. Wherever you are, whenever you speak, these are the moments in my life that I seek. No reason or rhyme, by chance or design, just a dance to the music of time. -- Music and Lyrics Copyright (c) 1987 by Bryan Ferry. Arrangement and Performance Copyright (c) 2025 by Scott Sadowsky. Photograph: Teatro Adolfo Mejías, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Copyright (c) 2025 by Scott Sadowsky.