Portrait Of My Love by Matt Monro

Album: My Kind Of Girl (1960)

Charted: 3

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This Matt Monro number is a fairly run of the mill love song which compares a beautiful woman with the Mona Lisa backed by a heavy string arrangement.
There is a horrible grammatical mistake in the last line where Monro sings "To try and paint a portrait of my love" instead of "To try to paint a portrait of my love." This error is extremely common in both spoken and written English; it appears in numerous songs including John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" and the Flanders & Swann classic "The Gasman Cometh," where it is just about forgivable, but here, as Monro's voice rises to a crescendo, it is particularly galling, and is the most memorable thing about this otherwise forgettable song. It is surprising that nobody seems to have picked up on it, or if they did, that Monro never re-recorded it.
"Portrait Of My Love" was recorded on Parlophone, accompaniment directed by Johnnie Spence, and backed by "You're The Top Of My Hit Parade." The sheet music credits are: Lyric by David West, Music by Cyril Ornadel, Copyright 1960 by Edward Kassner Music Co Ltd of London, Sole Selling Agent Kassner Associated Publishers Ltd. >>
Suggestion credit:
Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3

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Comments: 2

Junmorj from Tagbilaran , PhilippinesThe song "Portrait of my Love" oftentimes deceive the unknowing into thinking that the Mona Lisa is a work by Michelangelo. David West's juxtaposition of the great work of art with the great artist in the same stanza led many to assume that the Mona Lisa is Michelangelo's, not Leonardo da Vinci's, painting. Either West was ignorant about it or was only after a good rhyme. I think it's more of the latter than the former.
Al from Atlanta, GaWhoever wrote the comment about the grammatical error - is that your life work? If not, it could be. Pop songs, poetry, etc, etc, etc, are full of grammatical, historical & other errors. I believe it is called "poetic license". Oh, you could add to your pursuit, Pop, C&W & other songs that are sung or played off key, or have melodies that have been "plagerized" from other songs.

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