See the Pyramids?

Have you ever heard the song You Belong to Me? It was a ballad from the 1950s, known for its opening line: "See the pyramids along the Nile." The popular version was recorded by Jo Stafford but she wasn’t the first—Joni James was—and absolutely everyone covered it including Patti Page, Dean Martin, The Duprees, and my personal hero Ella Fitzgerald.

The sheet music and lyrics were written by Chilton Price, but she had to ‘share’ the writing credit with two men who worked at the same Louisville radio station where she was the music librarian. Chilton’s original idea was for the lyrics to be an American woman's plea to her sweetheart serving overseas during WWII but she made tweaks after the war ended. The previous title was “Hurry Home to Me” but here are the lyrics as we know them:

Notice that Chilton Price’s name is actually last! She passed away in 2010 at the age of 96.

See the Pyramids
Along the Nile
Watch the sun rise
on a tropic isle
Just remember,
darling, all the while:
You belong to me

See the market place
In old Algiers
Send me photographs
and souvenirs
Just remember
'til your dream appears:
You belong to me

I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome,
too, and blue?

Fly the ocean
in a silver plane
See the jungle
when its wet with rains
Just remember
'til you're home again:
You belong to me.

It was the perfect song for our first dance. Dantan lived in DC while we were engaged (and the 3 years we dated) so I flew out from Ohio to visit him one weekend a month. We had a session with a dance instructor to make sure we were waltzing correctly. I remember the teacher was more excited to talk about the time he worked with Michael Jackson on his Thriller music video than he was about our wedding dance, but he taught us to waltz correctly and in the end that’s all that matters! 😂

When my now-husband suggested this song for our first dance at the wedding, I had never heard it. Recorded in 2013 by Carla Bruni, Italian-born former first lady of France, this version is the one we chose and it’s by far my favorite.