Smoke gets in your eyes

[Humble]

Hi,
I hope somebody knows this classic hit. I got the lyrics from the Net, but there are bits that sound different and may need correction (I highlighted them):
So I shut them and I gaily laughed - (sounds like laugh)
To think they could doubt my love
…………………………..
When a lovely play dies
Smoke gets in your eyes
1. What does play mean here?
2. Is smoke gets in your eyes an idiom or is it meant as an excuse for tears?

I’d be very grateful for the clarification.

[rewboss]

Well, those lyrics are not very accurate.

So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed...

"Chaff" here means to mock: his friends told him that he was deluded, but he just laughed at them because he thought they were wrong. The "-ed" ending is not pronounced very clearly for two reasons: first, because it usually isn't pronounced very clearly in actual speech; and second, because "laughed" has to rhyme with "love".

When a lovely flame dies...

The phrase "smoke gets in your eyes" wasn't an idiom before the song was written; now the song is so well-known it has almost become an idiom.

In the first part of the song, the singer describes how he was in love, but his friends just told him he was blind to the truth; "When your heart's on fire [a metaphor for being in love] / You must realize / Smoke gets in your eyes". The fire in the singer's heart is creating smoke which is making him blind.

In the second part of the song, his girlfriend has left him, and this is making him cry. He says the "lovely flame has died" -- and when you extinguish a candle flame, it often gives off a lot of smoke. So now the smoke is a result of the end of his love. When somebody asks him why he is crying, he will say it's because of the smoke in his eyes; they will think he's talking literally about cigarette smoke, but really he's talking metaphorically.

[Humble]

Delighted! Thanks a million, Rewboss.

[curmudgeon]

Written by Jerome Kern (music) and Otto Harbach (lyrics) for the musical "Roberta" in 1933
Recording by The Platters was a # 1 hit in 1959
Remade in 1973 by Blue Haze, it hit # 27:

They, asked me how I knew,
My true love was true,
I of course replied, something here inside,
Can not be denied.

They, said some day you'll find,
All who love are blind,
When you heart's on fire, you must realize,
Smoke gets in your eyes.

So I chaffed them, and I gaily laughed,
To think they would doubt our love,
And yet today, my love has gone away,
I am without my love.

Now laughing friends deride,
Tears I cannot hide,
So I smile and say, when a lovely flame dies,
Smoke gets in your eyes,

Smoke gets in your eyes.

[Humble]

Thank you, curmudgeon.

[Humble]

Hi again,
Do you happen to know any links for reliable lyrics? I go to Sing365 and a couple of others, but they seem to provide transcripts which are often inaccurate.
Thanks.

[curmudgeon]

there are literally 100's of sites. Just 'google' 'lyrics'

[Humble]

Yeah, but I need those that have proved reliable.