And the Melody Still Lingers On (Khan/Mardin)

'A Night in Tunisia' is an instrumental jazz standard written by Dizzy Gillespie in and around 1941/42 while he was playing with the Benny Carter Band. Frank Paparelli got co-writer credit in compensation for some unrelated transcription work, but he actually had nothing to do with the song. Gillespie himself called it 'Interlude', under which title it is sometimes recorded.

Lyrics added by Chaka KHAN & Arif MARDIN as 'And the Melody Still Lingers On':

A long time ago in the forties, Dizzy and Bird gave us this song
They called it "A Night in Tunisia" and the melody still lingers on

It was new and very strange, blew the squares right off the stage
Few could play along, but the melody still lingers on

Max and Miles to name just two, together they grew
The music was young and strong and the melody still lingers on

They paved the way for generations from Coltrane to Stevie
No one could stop the winds of change, without them where'd we be?

The duke and the pres were there before, the past you can't ignore
The torch is lit, we'll keep the flame and the melody remains the same

Recordings exist by Chaka Khan (1981), Bajazzo ft Pascal von Wroblewsky, Coco d'Or, etc.