Bobby Darin - Artificial Flowers Lyrics

Was One of his last songs. He had a nice voice & introduced plasticly certain georgus distortions that gave much richness to his songs. The story of Annie is something real. in the young people .I think Bobby was one of the KING of the Teenageange & despair in our young times.Also he had joyfully songs in the rock & roll era.Really GREAT BOBBY . Classic and complete singer Always my favorite.

Nicely sung. However, the upbeat tempo and arrangement work against the tragic lyrics of the song.

Did this man make any bad records I think not

A lone lost art to sing such a powerful song you want to dance to.She has flowers. Real flowers. What a song.

Great movie..but don't confuse gay pedophile spacey with Bobby..thanks

I can never sing this song without my eyes tearing up.

Oh.. those fabulous chord changes Bobby!!! Magnificent..not an easy thing to do!! You made this song yours...as always...miss you, Bobby Darin..Miss you...

All.i.can say is WOW !!

This is another variation of the story, "The Little Match Girl".

He kills it! He builds up as the song progresses and knocks it out of the park! My favorite Bobby Darin song

Who else came here from Noisome?

The happy beutifull song doesnt make you listen to the sad lyrics if the song

Always makes me cry

And not a trace of auto tune anywhere..hear that Bublè?!

I agree but Buble is the only good thing happening to jazz music these days...!

When did Buble use autotune????🤔

livelovelaugh NEVER

@Aliyah Johnson Exactly!

On this day in 1960 {December 13th} Bobby Darin performed "Artificial Flowers" on the Dick Clark ABC-TV weekday-afternoon program, 'American Bandstand'...
At the time the song was at #56 on Billboard's Top 100 chart, six weeks earlier it had peaked at #20 {for 1 week} and it spent twelve weeks on the Top 100...
And on the same 'Bandstand' show he also performed "Christmas Auld Lang Syne", six days later it entered the Top 100 at #89, the following week it rose to #58, and then on it's third and final week on the chart it peaked at #51...
Between 1958 and 1973 Bobby Darin had forty Top 100 records; ten made the Top 10 with one reaching #1*, "Mack the Knife", for nine weeks in 1959...
Mr. Darin, born Walden Robert Cassotto, passed away at the young age of 37 on December 20th, 1973 {died after open heart surgery}...
May he R.I.P.
*He just missed having a second #1 record when "Dream Lover" peaked at #2 {for 1 week} in 1959; the week it was at #2, the #1 record for that week was "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton...

This song makes me so angry, not because it's bad, it's really good and I love it, but it just reminds me of how no one came to help poor Annie, she was left all alone at such a young age.

Smh, some people need locking up! I mean you Gracie.

Annie and her parents, Little Match Girl and her grandmother, and Bobby and Sandra are all in a better place now i think

Michael Kayfes yeah. It also helps that they’re not real.

been looking for this song for a while!

The song seems to underline injustice in society at the time, the death of a young child who lost her parents leaving her with no means to live by. Despite being productive and trying to make something to sell with her hands to survive, she froze to death. The big band swing sound, ever rising, may be to arouse the listener to do something. Is anyone listening?

I am today a year later here after you were.

Nothing is real any more

Love this song and just remember how much so...technology used for goodness and humanity it's mixed up with Clementine

my artifical love life

The Best of the Best Bobby was May he RIP & was taken away from us & the world much to young, He is missed by all of his Fans.

Very Kierkegaardish

My favorite Bobby Darin song.  It made me cry the first time I heard it (I was probably about 10 or 11).

What is makes this song so interesting is how Bobby's anger
increases, as the song continues. No wonder, he was so heavily
involved in Robert Kennedy's campaign for POTUS.
He clearly knew about the underdog.
Later in his career, he went into folk/protest music.
A brilliant track despite its' gloomy lyrics. Apparently, it is one of
George Clooney's favourites.

The homeless broad froze to death making them dum dum koo koo swingin' flowers, baby!

My car's on fire! Death as an orrrrphaaaaaan all right! Hey Jack! Swing it to me.

She wasn't homeless: at 1:21-1:27 "As snowflakes drifted into her tenement room..." But then there's the line at 1:55-2:00: "They found little Annie all covered with ice..." How could someone be covered with ice inside a room? Not likely.

Hans Christian Andersen - The Little Match Girl. I think the lyrics are influenced by the story.

Probably the SICKEST song I have ever heard. And I'm old.

It's almost too sad to listen to. Too beautiful not to.

What is sad is that kids still do in the 21st century.

My favorite BD song ever.  I remember it making me cry when it first came out, and I'm still a fan.  Bobby was the best.

This is swing! An upbeat song about a very sad tale. If memory serves me correct it was offered to Frank Sinatra but given to Bobby when he moved to Capitol. Darin was a very underrrated vocalist

The song was featured in the Broadway musical "Tenderloin" in 1960 and was in the original cast album released on Angel Records that same year. Bobby's version was recorded in 1960 on ATCO records. He didn't move to Capitol until 1962.

You're right. His first Capitol release was: "If A Man Answers", released Sept 1962, peaking at #32. "Artificial Flowers" was released Sept 1960, peaking at #20.

Bobby got the recognition he deserved well before his untimely death, but I get your point. See the Kevin Spacey movie. It was a tour de force.

WHO WROTE THIS ARRANGEMENT?
It's one of the best big band charts I've ever heard.

Richard Wess

Never heard of him, but thank you.

Yes, definitely not a household name but he could write. If you google him there is some sketchy info there but even stories about the man admit there is little known about his life. But he penned arrangements on quite a few Darin hits including Mack The Knife. Arrangers were many times the unsung heroes of the record business. You have good ears to pick out this great arrangement!

+diichertz1
Bobby Darin did all his arrangements.  He was brilliant at it, what an artist.

Thanks for identifying the arranger. Often wondered who he was. Fabulous stuff. Such a distinctive style. As good as Billy May, Nelson Riddle etc.

I used to sing this song to my sister when she was a little girl. She loved it. Her 55th birthday is in a few days. I'll post this song along with birthday wishes to her. :)

gramma3times Bobby Darin was a great singer , very few had his talent....

The arrangement on this song is no sign how sad this song really is.

+Jim Hynes Have to agree Jim.

Same with Mack The Knife

This is my favorite Bobby Darin song.

Listening to this song, I have figured out what this song is about, and who poor little Annie really is.
Originally, this song is based from the story "The Little Match Girl", but the authors of this song, changed her from a match girl, to a flower girl and named her Annie.

Why did they make that change?  Well, first of all, it's winter, and she's selling matches.  Is she selling them by the book, box, or individual.  If it's snowing or wet outside, Annie's matches are going to get wet, and she won't be able to sell them.  Therefore, they gave her flowers to sell instead.
Now, who is Annie?  Hint: Annie's parents are both dead.  That makes her "Little Orphan Annie".  Yes, the one and only "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow!' Annie.
So, now that I figured out who Annie is, and according to the song, Annie freezes to death.  So, where did Daddy Warbucks and being adopted all come from?
There is a simple answer to that question.  The entire Daddy Warbucks scenario, and being adopted were from Annie's imagination.  "How?", you may be asking yourselves.
Again, that is simple.  Annie died.  She died a very slow and painful death by freezing.  As you are dying, or loose consciousness, the lack of oxygen causes your brain to misfire, and you hallucinate.  As any was slowly freezing to death, her brain was lacking the oxygen she needed, and she hallucinated Daddy Warbucks rescuing her from the cold streets of New York, and adopting her and giving her a nice warm loving home to live in.
TADA!
Now, although I do love this song, if I were Annie, I'd be really pissed off at the Angels when I died.  First of all, I just spent the last several months receiving paper cuts, bloody pokes from the freaking wire, and burning my fingers in the hot melted wax.  So, when I died, not only did I NOT GET MY FREAKING HALO, but all I got was a chain of flowers to hang around my neck.  There was a reason I made ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS!  I'm allergic to pollen!  Real flowers make my head explode!  So, I have to spend eternity sneezing & choking because my throat is closing up, and my eyes are swollen shut & burning because of my allergy to real flowers.  NO THANK YOU!  Send me to Hell, where I can throw these flowers into the fire & keep warm!

I loved Bobby Darin, (still do, even though he left us 😢🤧). Artificial Flowers is my favorite song! Bobby Darin was a HUGE talent!

My favorite too.  When it first came out I would cry every time it came on the radio, I thought it was so sad.  Now I just love to hear Bobby sing it, great arrangement too.

+Jack Wood
Bobby Darin did all his arrangements.  He was brilliant at it, what an artist.

My mother nearly froze to death when she was young. She told me that actually, it becomes very peaceful and there's no pain near the time of losing consciousness (someone was standing behind her and caught her before she actually fell down), If you've seen the movie Titanic, there's a scene where Rose is lying on that floating wooden structure, gazing up at the stars, singing quietly to herself- it looks like what my mother had described to me.

Woah that really screws your mind. But I see where your coming from.

Love that number.

Apparently Darin shared a devastating family experience in common with Jack Nicholson.  According to their bios, each found out that the woman that had thought to be their sister was in actuality their mother.  The revelation, according to biographers, was devastating to both greats. 

Eric Clapton had a similar experience.

@Dwayne Wladyka And let us not forget how Clapton lost a child in a fall from a high rise building.  I don't see how he managed the grief.

@Jay Young That was very sad. I remember that.

A great song sung by a great artist.  Love it.

I remember this song. Have not heard it in a long time. Darin was so good.

It's sad that I am the only person watching/listening to this fantastic song.

es una canción excelentemente interpretada por bobby y la orquesta