Stranger in Paradise

Borodin is from Russia. That's close to Arabia, right?

Even if a geography lesson would show the distance and the many different cultures in between, the exotic Slavic music could profess its origins as somewhere near Baghdad on the unsuspecting audience, or that is what the composers and producers hoped half a century ago.

Robert Wright and George Forrest glamorized Alexander Borodin's music from his opera, Prince Igor, premiered another half-century previous, into the orchestral sounds of Broadway. Lucky for all involved, this combination made all of them more famous.

The lyrics for the song "Stranger in Paradise" change point of view from first person to third person and back. That warps my mind. When Marsinah sings to the Caliph, she takes the role of a narrator who speaks to him, "tell her that she need be a stranger no more." The pronouns are switched when the Caliph sings. But, when they sing the song as a duet, they both say, "tell me that I need be ..." That makes more sense to keep first person.

Also, there is a possessive that doesn't make sense. The singer is asking an angel to open its arms. The arms belong to the angel being addressed. The sentence prior is first person, so the command to "open your arms" shouldn't have another possessive modifier. That adjective is "angel." The lyrics are: open your angel's arms. That means the angel being addressed owns another angel and that angel's arms should be opened. That would put three people into the love song. I believe the lyrics should be: open your angel arms. An angel has angel arms. An angel has angel wings.

I reflect these editorial changes here:

Stranger in Paradise

Take my hand, I'm a stranger in paradise,
All lost in a wonderland, a stranger in paradise.
If I stand starry-eyed, that's a danger in paradise,
For mortals who stand beside, an angel like you.

I saw your face, and I ascended,
Out of the commonplace, into the rare.
Somewhere in space, I hang suspended,
Until I know, there's a chance that you care.

Won't you answer the (I think it should say "my") fervent prayer,
Of a stranger in paradise, (I think it should say "I'm a stranger...")
Don't send me in dark despair
From all that I hunger for. (Back to first person.)

So open your angel arms, to a stranger in paradise,
and tell me that I need be, an stranger no more.

On a side note, (sorry,) if I'm not concentrated more than 100%, angel - danger - and stranger substitute each other. That really changes the meaning ...