Vagabond King – but also alludes generally to other boy-serenades-girl love songs, such as the title song from Romberg's The Desert Song; "Serenade", from Romberg's The Student Prince; and "Yours Is My Heart Alone", from Franz Lehár's The Land of Smiles.In Izzenschnooken on the Lovely Essenzook Zee pays tribute to "In Egern on the Tegern See", another tune from Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air (Mandelbaum, CD 10, and also alludes generally to nostalgia songs like "Golden Days", from Romberg's The Student Prince; "Will You Remember", from Romberg's Maytime; "I’ll See You Again", from Noël Coward's Bitter Sweet; and "When I Grow too Old to Dream", from Romberg's The Night is Young.Playing Croquet + Swinging + How Do You Do? alludes to counterpoint songs in Irving Berlin and Meredith Willson musicals. Sung first separately, then with the first two combined, and finally with all three sung simultaneously in fine harmony, Besoyan's songs display counterpoint one-upsmanship. Counterpoint, in the context of popular music, is the simultaneous singing of separate songs, each with its own lyrics and each designed to harmonize with the other(s). Berlin's "Play a Simple Melody", from Watch Your Step, and "You’re Just in Love", from Call Me Madam, both have an initial tune and an untitled counterpoint tune that are sung simultaneously after first being sung independently; so does Willson's "Lida Rose" + "Will I Ever Tell You?", from The Music Man. Rick Besoyan salutes Berlin and Willson by doing them one better: combining three songs.Tell a Handsome Stranger alludes generally to boy-meets-girl songs such as "Kiss Me Again", from Herbert's Mlle. Modiste; "I’m Falling in Love with Someone", from Herbert's Naughty Marietta; "Marianne", from Romberg's The New Moon; and "Make Believe", from Kern's Show Boat; but the number particularly alludes to "Tell Me Pretty Maiden", from Leslie Stuart's Florodora (Mandelbaum, CD 10), the 1899 British musical comedy that moved to Broadway in 1900. A prominent feature of both numbers is the "walkaround" ritornello; a similar passage in the same "strolling" tempo occurs in "Half-past Two", a number from the popular Edwardian musical comedy "The Arcadians" (1909). The line "I'm falling – I’m falling in love with you" once more suggests Herbert's "I’m Falling in Love with Someone." The words "Oh, joy!" reflect the song "Oh Joy, Oh Rapture Unforeseen", from Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore. And the words "You make my little heart go pitty-pat" closely