Lush Life

A song that could only have been written in that brief interval between 1945 and the end of mid-century America in November 1963.  The opening:

I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come-what-may places
Where one relaxes on the axis
Of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life
From jazz and cocktails

And those ending lines:

I'll live a lush life

In some small dive

And there I'll be
While I rot with the rest
Of those whose lives are lonely, too

Composed by Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington's frequent collaborator.

Vocal by Ella Fitzgerald, who effortlessly handles the difficult melody.  Oscar Peterson on piano.