Lyrics to
Third Man Theme

This version of Third Man Theme was released by The Band in 1973.

Our About The Band page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Third Man Theme from 1973 as well as all of the other lyrics from The Band that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to The Band or about the 1970s in general.

When a zither starts to play
You’ll remember yesterday
In its haunting strain
Vienna lives again

Free and bright and gay
In your mind a sudden gleam
Of a half forgotten dream
Seems to glimmer when you hear
The Third Man Theme

Once again there comes to mind
Someone that you left behind
Love that somehow didn’t last
In that happy city of the past

Does she still recall the dream
That rapture so supreme
When first she heard the haunting
Third Man Theme

Carnivals and carousels
And ferris wheels and parasols
The Danube nights
The dancing lights again will shine
The zither’s sweet refrain
Keeps swirling in your brain

Like new May wine
Strauss waltzes, candle-glow
And the laughter of long ago
Fill the magic chords
And make it seem like today

You never knew that you could be
Enchanted by a melody
The years will never drive it out
You don’t know why

It’s something you can’t live without
You hear it in the twilight hush
And in the morning traffic rush

A song that’s always new
In your heart a part of you
Oh, shines so brightly when you hear
The Third Man Theme

When a zither starts to play
You’ll remember yesterday
In its haunting strain
Vienna lives again

Free and bright and gay
In your mind a sudden gleam
Of a well remembered dream
Seems to glimmer when you hear
The Third Man Theme

Once again there comes to mind
Someone that you left behind
Love that somehow didn’t last
In that happy city of the past

Does she still recall the dream
That rapture so supreme
When first she heard the haunting
Third man theme

Carnivals and carousels
And ferris wheels and parasols
The Danube nights
The dancing lights again will shine

The zither’s sweet refrain
Keeps swirling in your brain
Like new May wine

Strauss waltzes, candle glow
And the laughter of long ago
Fill the magic chords
And make it seem like today

You never knew that you could be
Enchanted by a melody
The years will never drive it out
You don’t know why

It’s something you can’t live without
You hear it in the twilight hush
And in the morning traffic rush

A song that’s always new
In your heart a part of you
Oh, shines so brightly when you hear
The Third Man Theme

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The Band has released many songs over the years besides Third Man Theme. The Band released songs from 1968 to 2002 spanning across albums like Music From Big Pink, The Band, Stage Fright, Cahoots, Moondog Matinee, Northern Lights - Southern Cross, Islands, Jericho, High On The Hog, Jubilation, and The Last Waltz. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Band.

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About Lyrics and Third Man Theme by The Band

The lyrics to Third Man Theme are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that The Band used when the song was created in 1973. The lyrics to Third Man Theme have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only The Band and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Third Man Theme by The Band. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Third Man Theme" means the words set to the music of Third Man Theme, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Band. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Third Man Theme and the lyrics to Third Man Theme are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Band who came here looking just for the lyrics to Third Man Theme, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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