Splendor In The Grass lyrics by Jackie Deshannon

This song was not the theme, nor was it used in the 1961 Elia Kazan film "Splendor in the Grass" (with Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty) but it was obviously inspired by it, just a few years after the movie's release. The film deals with the first love and romance of a boy and girl, and how the girl goes mad for awhile when the boy breaks the relationship off due to several outside pressures. The song lyrics are similiar in theme, right down to the line that says "the first time I went mad." The phrase Splendor in the Grass refers to a Wordsworth poem that is quoted in the movie in the lines:

Though nothing can bring back the hour
of splendor in the grass and glory in the flower,
we will not grieve, yet we will find
strength in what remains behind.

These lines are essentially saying that we can't bring back the past, no matter how pleasant a certain time was, but rather than mourn and long for that time, we can cherish the memories of it and gain strength from it, as it has made us what we are.