The Third Man Theme



-Instrumental version by Anton Karas hit # 1 for 11 weeks in 1950

-Instrumental version by Guy Lombardo ALSO hit # 1 for 11 weeks in 1950

-four other versions also charted that year-Freddy Martin (#17), Hugo

-Winterhalter (#21), Victor Young (#22), and Owen Bradley (#23)

-Title song from the Orson Welles film co-starring Joseph Cotton

- Words by Walter Lord, Music by Anton Karas





When a zither starts to play

You'll remember yesterday

In its haunting strain

Vienna lives again

Free and bright and gay

In your mind a sudden gleam

Of a half forgotten dream

Seems to glimmer when you hear The Third Man Theme



Once again there comes to mind

Someone that you left behind

Love that somehow didn't last

In that happy city of the past

Does she still recall the dream

That rapture so supreme

When first she heard the haunting Third Man Theme?



Carnivals and carousels and ferris wheels and parasols

The Danube nights, the dancing lights again will shine

The zither's sweet refrain

Keeps swirling in your brain

Like new May wine

Strauss waltzes, candle-glow

And the laughter of long ago

Fill the magic chords and make it seem like today



You never knew that you could be

Enchanted by a melody

The years will never drive it out

You don't know why

It's something you can't live without

You hear it in the twilight hush

And in the morning traffic rush

A song that's always new

In your heart a part of you

Oh, shines so brightly when you hear The Third Man Theme



When a zither starts to play

You'll remember yesterday

In its haunting strain

Vienna lives again

Free and bright and gay

In your mind a sudden gleam

Of a well remembered dream

Seems to glimmer when you hear The Third Man Theme



Once again there comes to mind

Someone that you left behind

Love that somehow didn't last

In that happy city of the past

Does she still recall the dream

That rapture so supreme

When first she heard the haunting Third Man Theme?



Carnivals and carousels and ferris wheels and parasols

The Danube nights, the dancing lights again will shine

The zither's sweet refrain

Keeps swirling in your brain

Like new May wine

Strauss waltzes, candle-glow

And the laughter of long ago

Fill the magic chords and make it seem like today



You never knew that you could be

Enchanted by a melody

The years will never drive it out

You don't know why

It's something you can't live without

You hear it in the twilight hush

And in the morning traffic rush

A song that's always new

In your heart a part of you

Oh, shines so brightly when you hear The Third Man Theme





Chart info by Robin Hood