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