​Song : ye raat bheegii bheegii ye mast fizaa_eN
Movie : Chori Chori (1956)
Singer : Manna De, Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics : Hasrat Jaipuri
Music : Shankar Jaikishan
Starring : Raj Kapoor, Nargis

ye raat bheegii bheegii ye mast fizaa_eN
uThaa dheere dheere wo chaaNd pyaaraa pyaaraa
kyoN aag sii lagaa ke gum_sum hai chaaNdanii
sone bhii nahiiN detaa mausam kaa ye ishaaraa

iThalaatii hawaa neelam saa gagan
kaliyoN pe ye behoshii kii namii
aise meN bhii kyoN bechain hai dil
jeewan meN na jaane kyaa hai kamii
kyoN aag sii lagaa ke gum_sum hai chaaNdanii
sone bhii nahiiN detaa mausam kaa ye ishaaraa
ye raat bheegii bheegii ye mast fizaa_eN
uThaa dheere dheere wo chaaNd pyaaraa pyaaraa

jo din ke ujaale meN na milaa
dil DhooNDhe aise sapane ko
is raat kii jag-mag meN Doobii
maiN DhooNDh rahii hooN apane ko    
ye raat bheegii bheegii ye mast fizaa_eN
uThaa dheere dheere wo chaaNd pyaaraa pyaaraa
kyoN aag sii lagaa ke gum_sum hai chaaNdanii
sone bhii nahiiN detaa mausam kaa ye ishaaraa

aise meN kahiiN kyaa ko_ii nahiiN
bhoole se jo ham ko yaad kare
ik halki sii muskaan se jo
sapanoN kaa jahaaN aabaad kare
ye raat bheegii bheegii ye mast fizaa_eN
uThaa dheere dheere wo chaaNd pyaaraa pyaaraa

I cannot remember a time in my life when I wasn't surrounded by music. My earliest memories are of my mother's singing, my grandmother religiously listening to Vividh Bharati from 6 in the morning till 11 at night, my father bringing home new LP and EP records and all of us gathering around to hear the latest album. I remember the joy of being allowed to flip the record for the first time, slowly progressing to playing the 78 , 331/3 and 45 rpm records by myself; the feeling of pride when I was trusted  to play them without supervision and the sense of accomplishment when I learnt how to change the needles on the turntable.

Suffice it to say that music has been part of my life at every step and there are songs linked to every memory, big or small. At a very early age, I developed a love for the written word, manifested in my love for reading. It also showed in my love for music. I have a penchant for songs with meaningful lyrics and by the time I was in my teens, had memorized hundreds of song lyrics. Yes, antakshari was a regular feature in our home most nights.

In 1980, my father gave me an unused Mohan Meakins diary (1978) for my song lyrics collection. It was triggered by the purchase of our first cassette. It had songs from Nagin on one side and Anarkali on the other. The first song that had its lyrics recorded in that diary  was "meraa dil ye pukaare aajaa". And so, the journey began. 

This blog is a tribute to all those lyricists who wrote the songs that were a big part of my life in India. They have been my constant companions through this journey that we call life, making me laugh and cry, celebrate and mourn, and make friends along the way. This is not a comprehensive database of songs nor an educational-informational site on film music. It is simply a collection of songs that I love by some of my favorite lyricists.