Shangri-La

Album

Four Coins In Shangri-La

Label

Epic records

Genre

Dance-pop

Composer(s)

Matty MalneckRobert Maxwell;Carl Sigman

Entered Chart

May 27, 1957

Peak Date

Aug 19, 1957

Released

Unknown

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Epic 9213

B-Side

First In Line

Shangri-La" is a popular song written by bandleader Matty Malneck and Robert Maxwell in 1946 with lyrics by Carl Sigman. The term comes from "Shangri-La" as the hidden valley of delight in James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon. The term "Shangri-La," especially in the 1930s and 1940s, was slang for heaven or paradise, and the song is about the joy of being in love. Composer Maxwell's instrumental version (saxophone/organ lead with brass and rhythm), which featured his harp solo, which is heard in the introduction as well as in the coda section of the song, charted in 1964, reaching #15, and #67 of the Top 100 instrumentals, 1960-69. Other popular versions (with lyrics) were recorded by The Four Coins in 1957 (#11 US) and by The Lettermen in 1969 (#64 US). Jackie Gleason used "Shangri-La" on his 1950s-60s TV variety show as theme music for his popular millionaire character Reginald van Gleason III. The song was also used as the opening and closing theme of Radio City Playhouse, a radio anthology series that aired in the late 1940s

Your kisses take me to shangri-la
Each kiss is magic
That makes my little world a Shangri-la
A land of bluebirds and fountains
And nothing to do
But cling to an angel that looks like you
And when you hold me 
How warm you are
Be mine my darling 
And spend your life with me in Shangri-la
For anywhere you are is Shangri-la

How warm you are
You make my little world a Shangri-la
For anywhere you are is Shangri-la