Nov. 26, 2009
BOOK REVIEW: Hooray for Johnny Mercer as Knopf Publishes His 'Complete Lyrics'
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Book Critic
Most songwriters are linked to one or maybe two composers: Ira and George Gershwin; Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart; Mitchell Parrish and Hoagy Carmichael.
Consider the case of Johnny Mercer, whose centennial we celebrate this month (he was born in Savannah, GA on Nov. 18, 1909 and died in California on June 25, 1976). He wrote more than a thousand songs with about 200 composers, including such all time greats as Harold Arlen ("That Old Black Magic"), Carmichael ("Skylark," "Lazybones," "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening"); Richard A. Whiting ("Hooray for Hollywood"); Jerome Kern ("A Fine Romance," "They Didn't Believe Me:); Henry Mancini ("Moon River," "Days of Wine and Roses"); David Raksin ("Laura").
During a career spanning more than four decades, Mercer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song nineteen times, and won four: for his lyrics to “On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe” (music by Harry Warren), “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” and “Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses.”
He was also a popular singer of his own songs and those written by others; an entrepreneur who was one of the founders of Capitol Records in 1942 and he even acted in plays and movies.
Undoubtedly the ultimate tribute marking Mercer's centennial is an exhaustively researched and lavishly illustrated collection of his lyrics: "The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer" (Knopf, 462 pages, 78 illustrations, $65.00) edited by Robert Kimball, Barry Day, Miles Krueger and Eric Davis. It's indexed, has biographical sketches and appreciations of Mercer and would make the ideal gift for any lover of great American music.
The seventh volume in Knopf’s critically acclaimed Complete Lyrics series contains the texts to more than 1,200 of his lyrics, several hundred of them published here for the first time.
One of his earliest hits when he moved to Hollywood in the mid 1930s was "I'm An Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)" sung by Bing Crosby in the 1936 movie "Rhythm on the Range." He wrote the words and the music for this song, which celebrates a tenderfoot cowhand who "never roped a steer 'cause I don't know how/And I sho ain't fixin' to start in now." The next year, 1937, Mercer and Whiting wrote the music for the Warner Bros fllm "Hollywood Hotel," including the immortal "Hooray for Hollywood."
I've been a Mercer fan for a long time, probably since hearing Ella Fitzgerald singing many of his songs in her "Johnny Mercer Songbook" record of the mid 1960s. Paging through the book, I marveled at his versatility. He wrote love songs, comic songs -- all with an unerring touch. Toward the end of his life he wrote "The Long Goodbye" (music by John Williams) for the 1973 movie of the same name. It's one of my favorite Altman movies.
He was probably the most versatile of American songwriters and "The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer" is a fitting tribute to his remarkable range. So I'm ending this review with a few lines of "Too Marvelous for Words," (music by Richard A. Whiting) from "Ready, Willing, and Able" (1937, Warner Bros.):
And So I'm borrowing
A love song from the birds
To tell you that you're marvelous
Too marvelous for words
Publisher's web site: www.aaknopf.com
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BOOK REVIEW: Hooray for Johnny Mercer as Knopf Publishes His 'Complete Lyrics'
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Book Critic
Most songwriters are linked to one or maybe two composers: Ira and George Gershwin; Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart; Mitchell Parrish and Hoagy Carmichael.
Consider the case of Johnny Mercer, whose centennial we celebrate this month (he was born in Savannah, GA on Nov. 18, 1909 and died in California on June 25, 1976). He wrote more than a thousand songs with about 200 composers, including such all time greats as Harold Arlen ("That Old Black Magic"), Carmichael ("Skylark," "Lazybones," "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening"); Richard A. Whiting ("Hooray for Hollywood"); Jerome Kern ("A Fine Romance," "They Didn't Believe Me:); Henry Mancini ("Moon River," "Days of Wine and Roses"); David Raksin ("Laura").
During a career spanning more than four decades, Mercer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song nineteen times, and won four: for his lyrics to “On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe” (music by Harry Warren), “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” and “Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses.”
He was also a popular singer of his own songs and those written by others; an entrepreneur who was one of the founders of Capitol Records in 1942 and he even acted in plays and movies.
Undoubtedly the ultimate tribute marking Mercer's centennial is an exhaustively researched and lavishly illustrated collection of his lyrics: "The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer" (Knopf, 462 pages, 78 illustrations, $65.00) edited by Robert Kimball, Barry Day, Miles Krueger and Eric Davis. It's indexed, has biographical sketches and appreciations of Mercer and would make the ideal gift for any lover of great American music.
The seventh volume in Knopf’s critically acclaimed Complete Lyrics series contains the texts to more than 1,200 of his lyrics, several hundred of them published here for the first time.
One of his earliest hits when he moved to Hollywood in the mid 1930s was "I'm An Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)" sung by Bing Crosby in the 1936 movie "Rhythm on the Range." He wrote the words and the music for this song, which celebrates a tenderfoot cowhand who "never roped a steer 'cause I don't know how/And I sho ain't fixin' to start in now." The next year, 1937, Mercer and Whiting wrote the music for the Warner Bros fllm "Hollywood Hotel," including the immortal "Hooray for Hollywood."
I've been a Mercer fan for a long time, probably since hearing Ella Fitzgerald singing many of his songs in her "Johnny Mercer Songbook" record of the mid 1960s. Paging through the book, I marveled at his versatility. He wrote love songs, comic songs -- all with an unerring touch. Toward the end of his life he wrote "The Long Goodbye" (music by John Williams) for the 1973 movie of the same name. It's one of my favorite Altman movies.
He was probably the most versatile of American songwriters and "The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer" is a fitting tribute to his remarkable range. So I'm ending this review with a few lines of "Too Marvelous for Words," (music by Richard A. Whiting) from "Ready, Willing, and Able" (1937, Warner Bros.):
And So I'm borrowing
A love song from the birds
To tell you that you're marvelous
Too marvelous for words
Publisher's web site: www.aaknopf.com
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
