too marvelous for words
Robert Bouton
(That's one of the reasons we chose to honeymoon there.) When I think
of him, I can hear his voice. He had a good one, and was on the radio
far more frequently than other songwriters of his generation. Nobody,
it seems to me, more frequently provided pleasure with a well-turned
phrase.
Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice
Warmer than the summer night
The clouds were like an alabaster palace
Rising to a snowy height
Each star its own aurora borealis
Suddenly you held me tight
I could see the Midnight Sun
and, later in that one:
It's a thrill I still don't quite believe
But after you were gone
There was still some stardust on my sleeve
Sometimes the voice I hear is Blossom Dearie's:
I dig Modigliani
Jolson doing Swanee
Several Maharanee are my intimates too
I played with Mantovani and that's a lot of strings to get through
But anyone can see My New Celebrity Is You
One from his biggest Broadway success knocks me out every time:
Come the day I no longer batchel, natur'ly I'll be true
And who could I be truest to? Namely you
That's a hillbilly creating a verb out of "bachelor" and it comes off
as entirely natural, NOT a wordsmith being clever.
Mercer gracefully expands the set of words used in song:
When an irrepressible smile such as yours
Warms an old implacable heart such as mine
Don't say no, because I insist
Somewhere, somehow, someone's gotta be kissed
No one else would have thought of:
They come from Chilicothes and Paducahs
With their bazookas
To get their names up in lights,
All armed with photos from local rotos,
With their hair in ribbons and legs in tights
In a comedy duet originally sung by Rose-Marie and Phil Silvers,
dozens of words are misdefined in an amazingly funny way:
"Octagonal": That's a man who's over eighty years old
An "anagram": Always take it at the sign of a cold
But "ambiguous"?
"Ambiguous" means "I love you."
Gotta love Mercer.
Steve Newport
100 years ago this week Johnny Mercer was born in Savannah, Georgia. One
from his biggest Broadway success knocks me out every time: Come the day
I no longer batchel, natur'ly I'll be true And who could I be truest to?
Namely you
TCM had L'IL ABNER on its schedule tonight.
fmomoon
"Steve Newport" <birdp...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:1573-4B0E...@storefull-3173.bay.webtv.net...
--
Moni
I am a Nobody.
Nobody is Perfect.
Therefore I am Perfect.
Steve Newport
--------------------------------
I like it. The film cuts a lot of the score, but does preserve most of
that marvelous Broadway cast.