Alone in a Big City (1929)
(Allein in einer grossen Stadt)

While working in Paris in late 1929 composer Franz Waxman and lyricist Max Colpet received a call from Marlene Dietrich, with whom they had worked on The Blue Angel, inviting them to lunch at her home in Versailles. Dietrich had a concert at the end of the week and needed a new song. After lunch, in the cab ride back into Paris, Waxman and Colpet wrote Allein in einer grossen Stadt.

It was an immediate hit and remained in Dietrich’s repertoire for the rest of her life. She recorded it and included it in her famous Las Vegas show and it opens Maximillian Schell’s biographical documentary about the star.

Ute Lemper and many other contemporary artists continue to perform what has become an iconic song.