Amapola
Words & Music by Al Gamse & Joseph Lacalle, 1924
Recorded by Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, 1941
Vocals by Bob Eberle & Helen O'Connell



(E7)     A    A9      A            AM7   A
Am - a - po - la, my pretty little pop - py,

        AM7             A6 alt      F#m Cdim  E7
You're like that lovely flower, so sweet and heavenly.

         E7  E7sus4                     E7/9   E7
Since I found you, my heart is wrapped around you,

      B7           Bm7-5   Fdim    A      Edim    E7
And loving you, it seems to beat a rhap-so-dy.




(E7)     A    A9       A            AM7   A
Am - a - po - la, the pretty little pop - py,

      AM7         F#7    C#m7-5      Bm   Cdim
Must copy it's endearing charms from you.

        D        Fdim            F#m      B7
Am - a - po - la,       Am - a - po - la,



First time:

      E7                        A  Edim     E7
How I long to hear you say, "I love you."



Last time:

     E7                         A   D9     A     A6
How I long to hear you say, "I love you." 




In 1939, Dorsey's Orchestra was signed to play for a weekly 15-minute radio show sponsored by Raleigh Cigarettes. Tutti Camarata, one of Dorsey's arrangers, worked out the style of featuring both vocalists in a single song in order to get maximum impact from the orchestra's vocalists, Bob Eberle and Helen O'Connell. Camarata evolved a format which would give Eberle the first half of the song as a slow ballad, then change to an up-tempo swing version for O'Connell. The same style hit repeatedly — first on Amapola, then later on both Green Eyes and Brazil.