SATURDAY
STUFF |
|
A Thought for Today
Failure is as certain
as success, but neither final.
Although he hasn't said as much I somehow
feel Rod wouldn't want today to pass without a mention of the great
Johnny Mercer.
I love reading what Rod has to
say about the greats of the music business and I hope you do too.
Here's what he had to say about Johnny on his birthday two years ago. I've
adjusted the chronology for today's Flight Plan so Jo's birthday
really was last Sunday and Johnny would have been 91 this year.
- Ken, Johannesburg, November 18
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JOHNNY MERCER
Those of you familiar with Stanyan
(Thank You Very Much) know by now that I use any and every chance to expound on Johnny
Mercer and Jo Stafford [Jo’s birthday was last Sunday]. Some people are addicted to
booze and horses, I get downright cranky without my daily fix of Jo and Johnny.
I idolized Johnny Mercer long before I ever met him. To my mind Johnny is the greatest
songwriter America ever produced and this country has given the world some giants, Cole
Porter, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields, Larry Hart, The Gershwins. We used to grow
'em here
like wildflowers. We've got a few great ones still with us and some are friends of mine so
I won't mention names of the living for fear of slighting even one I know and admire. And
let's not even get into the immigrants like Irving Berlin who came to this country and
wrote more real American songs than most of the native writers.
Mercer over Kern you say and over Cole Porter and Ira Gershwin? I admit it's a close call.
Who could deny the melodic genius of Kern, the wit of Porter and Ira Gershwin the master
of words. But Mercer was unique, he could write anything. Most of the time he wrote lyrics
to other peoples songs.
Mercer wrote the words to Laura, Moon River, You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby,
Something’s Gotta Give, On The Atchiston, Topeka & The Santa Fe, Come Rain or
Come Shine, I’m Old Fashioned, Accentuate The Positive, One For My Baby & One
More For The Road, That Old Black Magic, P.S. I Love You, Jeepers Creepers, The Strip
Polka, Hooray For Hollywood, The GI Jive, I’m an Old Cowhand, Anyplace I Hang My Hat
Is Home, Tangerine, I Want To Be Around, The Days of Wine & Roses, Lazy Bones, Satin
Doll, Too Marvelous For Words, Skylark, When A Woman Loves A Man, The Summer Wind, Autumn
Leaves, Fools Rush In, Day In – Day Out, I Remember You, Bob White, Once Upon A
Summertime, And The Angels Sings, This Time The Dream’s On Me, Goody Goody, When The
World Was Young . . .. Well, you get the picture.
The hundreds of songs he wrote include collaborations with Henry Mancini, Harold Arlen,
Harry Warren, Andre Previn, Ziggy Elman, Hoagy Carmichael, Jerome Kern, Duke Ellington,
Ralph Burns, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Van Heusen, Victor Schertzinger, Rube Bloom, Bernie
Hanighen, Andre Previn, Victor Young, Gordon Jenkins, Robert Emmit Dolan and on and on.
Every day his songs become more popular than they were the day before. A cliché, perhaps,
but true. In addition to his prolific output as a wordsmith, during the 1930’s,
40’s & 50’s, Mercer had a major career as a singer. He influenced among
others, Chet Baker, Bobby Troup, Fred Astaire and a whole group of so called
"non-singers" who were every bit as versatile and compelling as the crooners
with real pipes Crosby, Sinatra & Nat King Cole.
Johnny would have been 91 today. Stanyan has released 3 Mercer albums; Great American
Songwriters, Some of the Best & More of the Best with another 4 mastered but as yet
unreleased. Lots of noise in this world. Mucho misunderstanding, and let's not forget that
ugliest of all contemporary phrases, in your face, that helps to contribute to it
all. Don’t get Mad, get Johnny Mercer. |
