THE BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS - Free Jazz Leadsheet

"The Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was written by Harry Warren with lyrics by Al Dubin and published in 1933 for the film "Moulin Rouge." Constance Bennett performed the song in the film, and the first commercial recording was issued shortly afterward by Deane Janis with Hal Kemp’s Orchestra in New York.

The song later found new life through renditions by Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, and jazz-influenced cabaret singers drawn to its melancholy theme of vanished hopes and lost romance. Musically, the tune combines a dramatic minor-key contour with a 32-bar form, producing an evocative, cinematic atmosphere characteristic of Warren’s early-1930s writing.