Lyrics from Cohan to Sondheim - and beyond
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Just the other day I was engaged in a amiable dispute about the exact words of the Al Dubin/Harry Warren song, She's a Latin from Manhattan: Though she does the rhumba for us And she calls herself Dolores, She was in a Broadway chorus, Known as Susie Donohue. With the publication of Reading Lyrics such disputes are outmoded. Here are 75 years and 600-plus of the best lyrics to come out of (mostly) Broadway or Hollywood, arranged logically with a minimum of commentary. The simple structure consists of a half page biog of any lyricist deemed worthy of having at least three songs included, followed by the lyrics, each with a composer credit. Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball's taste and judgement are to be trusted, Gottlieb as the editor of the excellent Reading Jazz and Kimball as the presiding genius over a whole series of Complete Lyrics of... books. Of course there are disappointments: I couldn't find Alex Hill's I would do anything for you or most of Willard Robison's songs (though admittedly I don't know who the lyricists were) and the selection of Oscar Hammerstein songs inexplicably omits the barbed Life upon the Wicked Stage from Show Boat. Of the delights that are here, some can be taken as witty stand-alone reads: much of Noel Coward , for instance, or Cole Porter's Brush up your Shakespeare. More often the lyric is a trigger for tuneless (in my case) renditions of the whole thing: did ever a lyricist find his words set by more great composers than Johnny Mercer: notably Hoagy Carmichael and Harold Arlen? And, while on the subject of Hoagy, why did the writer of such beautiful lyrics as I get along without you very well confine himself to composer duties on so many of his songs? And how did his One morning in May escape Messrs. Gottlieb and Kimball? For the most part the less familiar is well explored, from the iconoclastic (Dave Frishberg) to the forgotten (Weston and Barnes' 1909 masterpiece of ethnic confusion, I've got rings on my fingers). George M. Cohan, almost the earliest writer here, is represented by an odd mix of the very familiar (Over There, Yankee Doodle Boy) and the charmingly archaic (Down by the Erie Canal). Reading Lyrics is excellent for showing the range of a lyricist's work: it's easy to forget the variety of great songs somebody like Johnny Burke (mostly with Jimmy van Heusen) or Yip Harburg (especially with Harold Arlen) produced. I've got this far with barely a mention of Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Andy Razaf or Frank Loesser, but they, of course, are here in abundance. All in all Reading Lyrics is one of those reference books where you check a necessary piece of information and then find yourself an hour later, with a cold cup of tea or a missed appointment, still exploring the surrounding goodies.
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This is a wonderful collection of the greatest song lyrics
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Here is a quiz (with answers). You know these songs, but who wrote the words? A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square (Eric Maschwitz) Are you lonesome tonight? (Roy Turk, 34 years before Elvis recorded it) As time goes by (Herman Hupfeld) Happy days are here again (Jack Yellen) Have yourself a merry little Christmas (Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) If you were the only girl in the world (Clifford Grey) Singin' in the rain (Arthur Freed) Star dust (Mitchell Parish) When I fall in love (Edward Heyman) Who's sorry now? (Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby) If you didn't know you'll have no excuse now. All these lyrics and many more are in this unreviewable book, for what can one say except it's wonderful, marvellous. More than one thousand of the greatest lyrics from 1900-1975 (mostly American, but a few British, when popular song meant tin pan alley, Broadway and Hollywood), each one of which demands a review of its own. There are generous selections from the real greats whose fame is assured: Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Ira Gershwin, Noel Coward, Johnny Mercer, Frank Loesser, Alan Jay Lerner, Stephen Sondheim. And equally generous selections from those who were just as great but are not so well known: Gus Kahn (I'll see you in my dreams), Al Dubin (September in the rain), Ted Koehler (Stormy weather), Leo Robin (Diamonds are a girl's best friend), Irving Caesar (I want to be happy), E.Y. Harburg (Over the rainbow), Howard Dietz (Dancing in the dark), Harry Woods (Try a little tenderness), Irving Kahal (I'll be seeing you), Mack Gordon (You make me feel so young), Dorothy Fields (The way you look tonight), Johnny Burke (Pennies from heaven), Sammy Cahn (Come fly with me), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (The party's over), Carolyn Leigh (Young at heart). And so on, with many more even less well known writers deservedly being rescued from obscurity and having their moment in the spotlight. One myth is disposed of by this book: that song lyrics do not stand on their own without the music. Of course, many readers will have much of the music in their heads, but the fact is that the words on their own are a delight, pure poetry ranging from the most hilarious to the most tender. Gottlieb and Kimball have produced an unforgettable collection, and song lovers will forever sing their praises.
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