What is the name of the song that Blanche sings in A Streetcar Named Desire?

Answer 1

It's Only A Paper Moon, a popular song in the 1940's written by Harold Arlen, but has been covered by several artists such as Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.

The reason Blanche sings that song is due to the fact the lyrics represent two people who live in their own world separate from reality - but because those two people believe in that world, it becomes their own truth, and not a lie. Blanche is notorious for creating scenarios in her head to escape from the harsh reality of the world. She sings this as she believe Mitch will attend her birthday dinner and ask to marry her, despite after lying to him all throughout the summer about the real nature of her character. The irony in this is that while she's singing it, in the other room Stanley is informing Stella about why she was really banished from Laurel, which changes the course of the entire play/movie.

The pure irony here is that while Blanche is waxing poetic about the harmlessness of white lies, Stanley is revealing how hurtful and serious the truth about Blanche really is.