Have Mercer

In 1970, the Lyrics and Lyricists series was started at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. The idea, proposed by Broadway conductor Maurice Levine and master lyricists E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, was pretty simple: have great lyricists discuss their craft, perform their hits themselves, and curate a program of their music. The series was started at a fortuitous time, because a lot of the Great American Songbook lyricists were still alive, and were able to participate. While trained Broadway/cabaret vocalists did some of the singing, most of the time the lyricists themselves sang, which was pretty odd: many of them weren't performers -- they were writers in an era when writers stayed in their office and wrote, and performers performed, and the two rarely met.

The Lyrics and Lyricists series continues. You can see more about it here. It changed over the years, from first-person narratives to revues speared by experts or performers dedicated to one lyricist. I'll admit that I much prefer being in the company of the lyricists directly, but, well, a lot of them aren't around any more. So I can't fault the organizers for changing things.

The good news is that a lot of the early performances were recorded and released. A lot of the LPs/CDs drawn from this series are out of print, but I've been slowly amassing them...I'll probably do an entry sooner or later that runs them all down. It's fascinating stuff.

Johnny Mercer was one of those rare songwriters of the '30s and '40s who was also an accomplished performer. While that made his Lyrics and Lyricists gig a little slicker than most, it was no less charming or insightful. The other night I had the record of it on...it closes with a 29-song medley of songs that Mercer wrote the lyrics for (and in some cases words AND music for). It's probably 20 minutes long, and just devastating...I swear I almost cried. It's amazing to think of one man being responsible for so many great songs. It was just staggering. Here's the medley...check this out:

Lazy Bones
Goody Goody
Too Marvelous for Words
Jeepers, Creepers
Satin Doll
You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
That Old Black Magic
Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive
Fools Rush In
I Remember You
Day In-Day Out
Dearly Beloved
Come Rain or Come Shine
Tangerine
Hooray for Hollywood
Laura
Dream
Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe
Something's Gotta Give
One for My Baby
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening
Skylark
The Autumn Leaves
I Wanna Be Around
Blues in the Night
Charade
The Summer Wind
Moon River
Days of Wine and Roses

Chances are, most people have heard at least a few of these, right?