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By Jason Fortner
Each month, Jason Fortner spotlights one or more musical theatre composers
and/or lyricists, offering his own unique perspective on the songwriting legends
of musical theatre. Send your comments/questions on this column to
happgood@aol.com.
To access past Songwriters columns, click on the Songwriters archive
link to the left.
October 2009
"Bits & Pieces"
I just directed a Gershwin concert this past
weekend here in Florida and I am in rehearsal for Irving Berlin’s ANNIE GET YOUR
GUN, so this month I thought I’d do a potpourri of famous song-writers quotes on
songwriting mixed with some of my favorite lyrics. I hope you enjoy…
Irving Berlin: "Listen kid, take my advice,
never hate a song that has sold half a million copies."
Here’s a Berlin lyric about playing a simple
melody and sold a LOT of copies:
Won’t you play some simple melody?
Like my mother sang to me.
One with a good old fashioned harmony.
Play some simple melody.
Musical demon set my honey a-dreamin’
Won’t you play me some rag?
Just change that classical nag
To some sweet musical drag.
If you will play from a copy of a tune that is choppy.
You’ll get all my applause, and that is simply because.
I wanna listen to rag.
George Gershwin: "Out of my entire annual
output of songs, perhaps two, or at the most three, came as a result of
inspiration. We can never rely on inspiration. When we most want it, it does not
come."
Here’s a Gershwin tune, penned by George &
Ira, about the generic banality of Hollywood tunes, entitled “Blah, Blah, Blah”:
I've written you a song
A beautiful routine.
(I hope you like it).
My technique can't be wrong
I learned it from the screen.
(I hope you like it).
I studied all the rhymes that all the lovers sing;
Then just for you I wrote this little thing.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, moon,
Blah, blah, blah, above;
Blah, blah, blah, blah, croon,
Blah, blah, blah, love.
Tra la la la tra la la la la, merry month of May;
Tra la la la tra la la la la, 'neath the clouds of gray.
Blah, blah, blah, your hair Blah, blah, blah, your eyes
Blah, blah, blah, blah, care, Blah, blah, blah, blah, skies.
Tra la la la, tra la la la la cottage for two
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, darling, with you!
Cole Porter: "My sole inspiration is a telephone call from a director."
Here’s a Porter lyric deemed too saucy for inclusion in the show PARIS, for
which Porter wrote the even saucier replacement song “Let’s Do It”! Here’s
“Let’s Misbehave”:
We're
all alone, no chaperone
Can get our number
The world's in slumber--let's misbehave!!!
There's something wild about you child
That's so contagious
Let's be outrageous--let's misbehave!!!
When Adam won Eve's hand
He wouldn't stand for teasin'.
He didn't care about those apples out of season.
They say that Spring means just one little thing to little lovebirds
We're not above birds--let's misbehave!!!
It's
getting late and while I wait
My poor heart aches on
Why keep the breaks on? Let's misbehave!!!
I feel quite sure un peu d'amour
Would be attractive
While we're still active, let's misbehave!
You know my heart is true
And you say you for me care...
Somebody's sure to tell,
But what the heck do we care?
They say that bears have love affairs
And even camels
We're merely mammals--let's misbehave!!!
Christopher Walken performing
"Let's Misbehave" in the 1981 film PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (singing voices provided
by Irving Aaronsen and his Commanders)
Richard Rodgers: "It took about as long to compose it as to play it." (said
about "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning", the opening song in "Oklahoma!")
Oscar Hammerstein II: "I hand him a lyric and get out of his way."
The
speed with which Rodgers could concoct a tune to Hammerstein’s words was
legendary. One particularly vexing example was when Oscar spent weeks crafting
the lyric to “Younger Than Springtime” and Dick had the tune in under 10
minutes. Here’s that lyric:
I
touch your hand
And my heart grows strong,
Like a pair of birds
That burst with song.
My eyes look down
At your lovely face,
And I hold a world
In my embrace.
Younger than springtime, are you
Softer than starlight, are you,
Warmer than winds of June,
Are the gentle lips you gave me.
Gayer than laughter, are you,
Sweeter than music, are you,
Angel and lover, heaven and earth,
Are you to me.
And when your youth
And joy invade my arms,
And fill my heart as now they do,
Then younger than springtime, am I,
Gayer than laughter, am I,
Angel and lover, heaven and earth,
Am I with you!
Matthew Morrison sings "Younger
Than Springtime" during the cast recording session for the current revival of
SOUTH PACIFIC
Stephen Sondheim: "Music blows lyrics up very quickly, and suddenly they become
more than art. They become pompous and they become self-conscious ... I firmly
believe that lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to
understand what's going on. Particularly in the theater, where you not only have
the music, but you've got costume, story, acting, orchestra. There's a lot to
take in."
Here’s a classic Sondheim lyric from one of his favorite songs:
Anyone can whistle, that's what they say-easy.
Anyone can whistle, any old day-easy.
It's all so simple.
Relax, let go, let fly.
So someone tell me, why can't I?
I can dance a tango, I can read Greek-easy.
I can slay a dragon, any old week-easy.
What's hard is simple.
What's natural come hard.
Maybe you could show me how to let go,
Lower my guard,
Learn to be free.
Maybe if you whistle,
Whistle for me.
Kurt Weill: "I have never acknowledged the difference between serious music and
light music. There is only good music and bad music."
Here
are the lyrics to a classic Weill theatre song, “Lost In The Stars, with lyrics
by Maxwell Anderson:
Before Lord God made the Sea and the Land
He held all the stars in the palm of his hand
And they ran through his fingers like grains of sand
And one little star fell alone.
So the Lord God hunted through the white night air
For the little dark star on the wind down there
And he stated and promised
To take special care
So it wouldn't get lost again
Now a man don't mind if the stars grow dim
And the clouds blow over and darken him
So long as the Lord God 's watching over him
Keeping track how it all goes on
But I've been walking through the night, through the day
Till my eyes get weary and my head turns grey
And sometimes it seems maybe God's gone away
Forgetting the promise that we've heard him say
And we're lost out here in the stars
Little stars and big stars
Blowing through the night
And we're lost out here in the stars
Little stars and big stars
Blowing through the night
And we're lost out here in the stars.
Toni Tennille performs "Lost In The Stars" on
her 1980 talk show
Alan Jay Lerner: "You write a hit the same way you write a flop.”
Frederick Loewe: "It won't be long before we'll be writing together again. I
just hope they have a decent piano up there.”
Lerner & Loewe worked so beautifully together… Here’s one of their wonderful
collaborations:
Gigi . . . am I a fool without a mind
or have I merely been to blind to realize?
Oh Gigi . . . why you've been growin' up
before my very eyes!
Gigi . . . you're not at all the funny
awkward little girl I knew
Oh no, overnight there's been a breathless
change in you!
Gigi . . . why you were tremblin' on the brink
was I out yonder somewhere blinkin' at a star?
Oh Gigi . . . have I been standin' up to close
or back too far?
When did your sparkle turn to fire
and your warmth become desire?
Oh, what miracle
has made you the way you are?
Oh Gigi . . . have I been standin' up to close
or back too far?
When did your sparkle turn to fire
and your warmth become desire?
Oh, what miracle
has made you the way you are?
Ron Raines in "Gigi" from MY FAVORITE
BROADWAY: THE LOVE SONGS
Burt Bacharach: "Music breeds its own inspiration. You can only do it by doing
it. You may not feel like it, but you push yourself. It's a work process. Or
just improvise. Something will come."
Hal David: "I tended not to be concerned about whether a song was going to be a
hit when I wrote it. Because it became evident that none of us knew what was a
hit and what wasn't. So I thought if I just write what I like, why shouldn't
people like what I like?"
Our
final tune today is the title song from Bacharach & David’s only Broadway
musical, PROMISES, PROMISES:
Promises, promises
I'm all through with promises, promises now
I don't know how I got the nerve to walk out
If I shout, remember I feel free
Now I can look at myself and be proud
I'm laughing out loud
Oh, promises, promises
This is where those promises, promises end
I don't pretend that what was wrong can be right
Every night I
sleep now, no more lies
Things that I promised myself fell apart
But I found my heart
Oh, promises, their kind of promises
can just destroy a life
Oh, promises, those kind of
promises take all the joy from life
Oh, promises, promises, my kind of promises
Can lead to joy and hope and love
Yes, love!!
Next update to this page: Sunday, November 1, 2009
