Every gentleman needs to know great music.
It was 1939; America was still in the throws of the Great Depression and preparing for the inevitability of World War Two. Americans by and large traveled by train, romantic and solitary, its metronomic rhythm was often homaged in popular song, but it was Johnny Mercer who captured the sentimental temper of the times yet to come, with one of his lesser-known works “I Thought About You”.
“I took a trip on a train, and I thought about you. I passed a shadowy lane, and I thought about you. Two or three cars parked under the stars, a windin' stream. Moon shining down on some little town. And with each beam, the same old dream. And every stop that we made, oh I thought about you.”
Thirty years, and two thousand songs later, in 1961, Mercer would revisit some of the same cadences and dreamy images in his masterpiece…“Moon River”. America was now preparing for the escalation of the Viet Nam and Cold War. Americans by and large now traveled by plane, jetting quickly and crowded, this form of transportation seldom lent itself to be homaged in song, but despite the grand passage of time, it was still Johnny Mercer who managed to capture our hearts with the longing and yearning of the poignant, “Moon River“.
Today I thought about you, Johnny Mercer, as the New York Sheet Music Society www.nysms.org drew together to celebrate his work and his life. Introducing the event was Robert Kimball. Mr. Kimball is a an unassuming, albeit erudite gentleman, with his grey hair and articulate reading glasses, and on this day of torrential rain is dressed in a Faire Isle sweater and rumpled chinos, in short, he looks like a writer. Not surprisingly, this talented gentleman has been the music critic of the New York Post, and is the co-author, and editor of several books on musical theater, including the bestselling Cole, (Porter) that he edited with Brendan Gill. He also edited Knopf’s four previous books in their Complete Lyrics series, including Ira Gershwin and Irving Berlin. Life is magical, Kimball knew Mercer, and attended grade school with Mercers daughter, Amanda. Kimball will go on to share his personal reminiscences.
If you think that music created prior to the Rock and Roll idiom is not relevant, let me report that The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer only recently released, which is a best seller, is already out of print, and reissues are due out in May. Place your order on Amazon now. Equally impressive is that the book retails for 65.00. Included in this comprehensive work are six songs from “The Keystone Girl” which was an uncompleted work for the stage about the personal relationship between Mabel Normand and Max Sennett, it includes the song “In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening” which was later used in the 1952 film, “Here Comes The Groom”. The song won an Academy Award, but the film is relatively unmemorable.
Another treasure in the book is the song “I Wanna To Be Around (To Pick Up the Pieces)” 1963, recorded by Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darrin with great success. The back-story is equally fascinating, as the song title was sent to Mercer by a Miss Sadie Vimmerstedt, a Youngstown Ohio, housewife. She actually mailed it simply to "Johnny Mercer-Songwriter-New York" (no address)…the post office forwarded it to the ASCAP office; (those were the days, today if I neglect to include a nine digit zip code I get read to filth). Mrs. Vimmerstedt wrote her lyrics on the back pages of a kitchen calendar suggesting that it might make for a great song. She later regretted it, as she was hounded by the press for the personal details of her life. Sometimes fifteen minutes of fame are not worth it!
During the opening announcements Linda Amiel-Burns, NY Sheet Music Society President reports that the beloved vocalist, Margaret Whiting was recently moved to The Actors’ Fund Home, in Englewood NJ. Ms. Whiting is 86. A wave of regret passes over the audience. There is a collective sigh. We know what this means, but nothing happens without some consequence. It is not coincidental that Whiting was a great interpreter of Mercers work. Nothing happens without consequence, Ms. Whiting’s father; Richard Whiting gave Mr. Mercers one of his first big breaks and was instrumental in shaping Mercer’s early career.
A Life in 100 Words Or Less
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 to June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs, as well as those written by others. From the mid-1930’s through the mid-1950’s, many of the songs Mercer wrote were among the most popular hits of the time. He wrote the lyrics to more than fifteen hundred songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Academy Award nominations, and won four. Mercer was also a co-founder of Capitol Records (from wikipedia.com)
Mr. Kimball only touched upon a list of American standards that Mercer composed over the fifty year arch of his career.
"Lazy Bones " 1933, (music by Hoagy Carmichael)
"P.S. I Love You", 1934 (music by Gordon Jenkins)
"Goody Goody", 1936 (music by Matty Malneck)
"I'm An Old Cowhand from the Rio Grander", 1936
"Too Marvelous for Words", 1937 (music by Richard A. Whiting)
"You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", 1938 (music by Harry Warren)
"Jeepers, Creepers!", 1938 (music by Harry Warren)
"Blues In The Night", 1941 (music by Harold Arlen)
"
Tangerine", 1941 (music by Victor Schertzinger)
"That Old Black Magic", 1942 (music by Harold Arlen)
"Skylark", 1942 (music by Hoagy Carmichael)
"(Maybe) I'm Old Fashioned", 1943 (music by Jerome Kern)
I'm Old Fashioned", 1943 (music by Jerome Kern)
"One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)", 1943 (music by Harold Arlen)
"Dream", 1943 (words and music by Johnny Mercer)
"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive", 1944 (music by Harold Arlen)
"Laura", 1945 (music by David Raksin)
"Come Rain Or Come Shine", 1946 (music by Harold Arlen)
"Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home", 1946 (music by Harold Arlen)
"Autumn Leaves", 1947 (music by Joseph Kosma)
"Save the Bones for Henry Jones" 1947
"Glow Worm", 1952 (music Paul Lincke)
"Satin Doll", 1953 (music by Duke Ellington)
"Something's Gotta Give", 1954 (words and music by Johnny Mercer)
"Moon River", 1961 (music by Henry Mancini)
"Days of Wine and Roses", 1962 (music by Henry Mancini)
"Charade", 1963 (music by Henry Mancini)
"Summer Wind", 1965 (music by Henry Mayer)
Had Mercer only composed a few of these songs he would have risen to the pantheon of great composers. It is astounding to note that his contribution to the Great American Songbook exceeds all reasonable expectations. Equally astounding is that Mercer consistently turned out hits with over 250 different collaborators, each with their distinct voice, whereas his colleagues for the most part seldom moved beyond one or two collaborators, as a result Mercer’s work constantly took on a variety of fresh new sounds, it’s almost impossible to say that any one of his songs has a Mercer style or signature, whereas it’s easy to pick out a George and Ira Gershwin or Rogers & Hammerstein song, not that there is anything wrong with that either. Regardless, Mercers was a musical chameleon.
Mr. Kimball during the question and answer period gives us great insight into the Mercer, who was described as a “folk poet” because his imagery often veers into a kind of pastoral romance with the past, and over coming obstacles. Mercer’s songs while often upbeat and resonate, more often delve into loneliness and despair, as does the work of other folk poets like Stephen Foster. The songwriter Harry Warren describes Mercer as a “cloud boy” as Mercer would often seem to drift off, day dream and drop out while working.
Kimball also shares with us how the song “Moon River” was originally entitled “Blue River”, which is a real river near Mercer’s Savannah home. Mercer injected the song with other blue references like “huckleberries” which grow commonly in the South. The phrase “my huckleberry friend” was supposed to have been dropped from the lyric, but due to haste, remained in, and incidentally is perhaps the best known phrase in 20th Century music. Also hard to believe, but the song was nearly dropped from the film “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” due to the films length, and that the song did not really forward the narrative. It was our dear Audrey Hepburn who told the Producers that over her dead body that song would be removed. “Moon River” won the 1961 Academy Award for Best song. If the Academy Awards ever gave out an Award for best song ever, it would probably win.
Mercer was a versatile composer of film scores and songs for film, but equally adept at live theater with over a dozen musical and contributions to musical scores including The Garrick Gaieties, St. Louis Woman, Top Banana, Li'l Abner, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, and Saratoga.
Oh, did I mention when Mercer wasn't writing he started a little record production company called Capitol Records, which is credited with producing most of Americas best mid-century artists. Capitol distinguished itself as the only West Coast producer, and perhaps the only producer that promoted racially diverse artist like Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstein Ella Fitzgerald, Yma Sumac and Lionel Hampton.
Because he is a gentleman, Mr. Kimball glosses over Mercers drinking, womanizing and somewhat notorious affair with Judy Garland. While the flaws of a man sometime define him, they seldom define his work. If you are interested in reading about Mercers complicated life information is handy in prior biographies and the internet.
Mercer in later years grew almost despondent of American popular music with its dissonance, anti-lyricism and atonal melodies. Mercer was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 1975. He had worked steady to that point, but the last year of his life was an unfortunate and debilitating one. Mercer died in 1976, at the age of sixty-six. Mercers work still continued, Mercer who had developed a professional relationship with Barry Manilow found new life in the elegiac “When October Goes” an unfinished lyric that the Mercer estate gave to Manilow and which appears on his “Paradise Café” 1984, which charted on Billboard, it became a top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in the United States. Mercer loved Manilow’s first hit song “Mandy” which is an alliteration of Mercers beloved daughter’s name, Amanda. Manilow struck Mercers as a kind of songwriter that respected the heritage of the standard idiom, and did not challenge or reject it.
You can visit Mercers work on his wonderful website www.johnnymercer.com, Former NY Sheet Music Society Member Dolly Dawn features prominently. Naturally, there is www.youtube.com, www.imdb.com and www.wikipedia.com The Johnny Mercer Collection, including his papers and memorabilia, are preserved in the library of The Georgia State University in Atlanta.
At the conclusion of Mr. Kimball’s introduction, the composer, arranger and accompanist David Lewis delight us with several Mercer songs, interjecting the set with his personal reminisces of growing up with a Mercer songbook and how at age twelve he was enamored with the sophisticated Mercer. Mr. Lewis is wears a lavender shirt and pink silk tie and makes no bones that Mercer’s work provided an escape, a way out of his suburban confines and closet. In the audience is a woman who went to school with Lewis, she stands to report that Lewis was a great dance when he was in high school.
Mr. Lewis is among New York Cities superlative musicians, I can’t think of anyone he has worked with, and while not a name dropper he offered for sale copies of “Patti LuPone at Les Mouches” which was recorded in 1980, when Ms. Lupone was starring in Evita, eight shows a week, she was also engaged to sing at “Les Mouches“, a new swanky nightclub for four evenings. The New York Times was at the opening, and based on their rave, the act was carried over for twenty-nine more weeks. The show was revived only recently with Broadway star Leslie Kritzer, at first Ms. Lupone, who was now starring in Sweeney Todd gave the revival her blessing, but had a sudden change of heart when she realized that she was not being included in the royalties. The original soundtrack was never released, and nearly forgotten, despite its legendary cult status. Lawyer speaks to lawyer to arbitrate the matte, its all very civilized at dinner and to mitigate the LuPone soundtrack (which Lewis had on old cassettes in a shoe box) was recently released, and I believe it’s available on www.amazon.com and perhaps www.broadwayworld.com
Before the afternoon closes, Mr. Kimball with the assistance of Mr. Lewis leads all of us in “Moon River” Naturally we all know the works, perhaps better that the National anthem It was not a dry eye in the house.
“Moon River, wider than a mile, I'm crossing you in style some day.
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker, wherever you're going, I'm going your way.
Two drifters off to see the world, there's such a lot of world to see.
We're after the same rainbow's end, waiting 'round the bend, my huckleberry friend, Moon River and me.”
