DESCRIPTION:
Coward and the Bonynge's became good friends in the last decades of Coward's life. This piece opens a recording they made together with Sutherland singing and Coward narrating.

From Conversation Piece
Recorded 1966

Words:
Melanie: No Matter what price is paid,
What stars may fade
Above,
I'll follow my secret heart
Till I find love.

When my I love somebody, please?
Paul: Not until you are safely married, and then only with the greatest discretion.
M: I see
P: What's the matter?
M: It doesn't feel like my birthday any more.

A cloud has passed across the sun,
The morning seems to longer gay.
With so much business to be done,
Even the sea looks grey.
C'est vrai. C'est vrai.
It seems that all the joy has faded from the day
As though the foolish world no longer wants to play.

You ask me to have a discreet heart
Until marriage is out of the way,
But what if I meet with a sweetheart so sweet
That my wayward heart cannot obey
A single word that you may say?

P: Then we shall have to go away.
M: No.
For there is nowhere we could go
Where we could hide from what we know
Is true.

Don't be afraid I'll betray you
And destroy all the plans you have made,
But even your schemes
Must leave room for my dreams.
So when all I owe to you is paid
I'll still have something of my own,
A little prize that's mine alone.
I'll follow my secret heart
My whole life through.
I'll keep all my dreams apart
Till one comes true.
No matter what price is paid,
What stars may fade
Above,
I'll follow my secret heart
Till I find love.