This song appears on four albums, and was first released on the I Want To Live album, and has also been released on the Changes, Reflections: Songs of Love and Life and The Country Roads Collection albums.


Dearest Esmeralda, in another age
Antiques would be modern, we would be the rage
Silk would be in fashion, we would dress in lace
Love would be the passion and the saving grace

I slept one rainy night with you in Paris
Made up for a thousand wasted years
Dearest Esmeralda, you are magic
I close my eyes and you make love appear

Dancing in the shimmer of a crystal chandelier
Shadows singin’ so low only we could hear
Moving to the glimmer, shaking to the storm
Outside it was raging, but inside it was warm

We said goodnight in the candlelight and thunder
Now I wake and find you’re never there
I’m becoming old enough to wonder
Happy that I’m still too young to care

Masterpieces crumble, empires tumble down
Refugees and fantasies go underground
Romance lasts forever, love don’t fade away
They may take our future, but they don’t stop yesterday

‘Cause somewhere in the cloudy skies of Paris
we were part of some artist’s design
Dearest Esmeralda, you are magic
In the gray around me how you shine

Oh oh, how you shine

Words and music by Bill Danoff