Skylark : the life and times of Johnny Mercer / Philip Furia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Furia, Philip, 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mercer, Johnny, 1909-1976.

Mercer, Johnny.

Lyricists--United States--Biography.

Lyricists.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 328 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2003.

Summary:

Skylark is the story of the tormented but glorious life and career of Johnny Mercer and the first biography of this enormously popular and influential lyricist. Raised in Savannah, Mercer brought a quintessentially southern style to both his life in New York and to his lyrics, which often evoked the landscapes and mood of his youth ("Moon River," "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening"). Mercer also absorbed the music of southern blacks -- the lullabies his nurse sang to him as a baby and the spirituals that poured out of Savannah's churches -- and that cool, smooth lyrical style informed some of his greatest songs, such as "That Old Black Magic." Part of a golden guild whose members included Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, Mercer took Hollywood by storm in the midst of the Great Depression. Putting words to some of the most famous tunes of the time, he wrote one hit after another, from "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" to "Jeepers Creepers" and "Hooray for Hollywood." But it was also in Hollywood that Mercer's dark underside emerged. Sober, he was a kind, generous, and at times even noble southern gentleman; when he drank, Mercer tore into friends and strangers alike with vicious abuse. Mercer's wife, Ginger, whom he'd bested Bing Crosby to win, suffered the cruelest attacks; Mercer would even improvise cutting lyrics about her at parties.

During World War II, Mercer served as America's troubadour, turning out such uplifting songs as "My Shining Hour" and "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive." He also helped create Capitol Records, the first major West Coast recording company, where he discovered many talented singers, including Peggy Lee and Nat King Cole. During this period, he also began an intense affair with Judy Garland, which rekindled time and again for the rest of their lives. Although they never found happiness together, Garland became Mercer's muse and inspired some of his most sensuous and heartbreaking lyrics: "Blues in the Night," "One for My Baby," and "Come Rain or Come Shine." Mercer amassed a catalog of more than a thousand songs and during some years had a song in the Top Ten every week of the year -- the songwriting equivalent of Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak -- but was plagued by a sense of failure and bitterness over the big Broadway hit that seemed forever out of reach. Based on scores of interviews with friends, family, and colleagues, and drawing extensively on Johnny Mercer's letters, papers, and his unpublished autobiography, Skylark is an important book about one of the great and dramatic characters in twentieth-century popular music.

Contents:

Prologue: Moon River 1

1. You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby: 1909-1927 9

2. When the World Was Young: 1927-1930 30

3. Jeepers Creepers: 1930-1931 47

4. Lazybones: 1931-1934 63

5. Hooray for Hollywood: 1935-1937 77

6. Too Marvelous for Words: 1937-1938 92

7. Day In

Day Out: 1938-1940 105

8. Blues in the Night: 1940-1941 118

9. Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive: 1941-1944 133

10. Come Rain or Come Shine: 1944-1948 150

11. Autumn Leaves: 1949-1952 168

12. I'm Old Fashioned: 1952-1954 180

13. Something's Gotta Give: 1954-1956 195

14. Midnight Sun: 1957-1962 210

15. When October Goes: 1962-1964 224

16. Summer Wind: 1963-1969 238

17. Dream: 1969-1976 250

Epilogue: And the Angels Sing 269.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [305]-306) and index.

ISBN:

0312287208

OCLC:

51655385