Reading Lyrics (2000) presents the lyrics to over 1000 songs that celebrate the 20th Century’s greatest songwriters. A glance at the list of songwriters in this 706 page volume gives you an idea of the range of songs and lyrics that grace the pages of this book.
Many of my favorite songs and songwriters show up on these pages: Noel Coward and “Let’s Do It,” Cole Porter and “Anything Goes,” Ira Gershwin and “A Foggy Day (In London Town)”, Alec Wilder and “I’ll Be Around,” and Stephen Sondheim and “Send In the Clowns.”
Which songwriters do you like? GRADE: A
CONTENTS:
Lyricists included: Anne Caldwell — Otto Harbach — George M. Cohan — Henry Creamer — P.G. Wodehouse — Cecil Mack — Bert Kalmar — Harry Ruby — Joseph McCarthy — Sam M. Lewis — Joe Young — Edgar Leslie — Shelton Brooks — Gus Kahn — Clifford Grey — Haven Gillespie — Irving Berlin — Maxwell Anderson — Noble Sissle — Grant Clarke — Cole Porter — Al Dubin — Clarence Gaskill — Morton Dixon — Jack Yellen — Roy Turk — Walter Donaldson — Herman Hupfeld — Ted Koehler — Arthur Freed — B.G. (Buddy) DeSylva — Lew Brown — Ray Henderson — Leo Robin — Lorenz Hart — Irving Caesar — Oscar Hanmerstein II — Andy Razaf — E.Y. Harburg — Paul James — Howard Dietz — Harry Woods — Ira Gershwin — Mann Holiner — Noel Gay — Hoagy Carmichael — Noel Coward — Mitchell Parish — Kim Gannon — Edward Eliscu — Eric Mashcwitz — Ned Washington — Meredith Willson — Ogden Nash — Sam Coslow — Irving Kahal — Ray Noble — Eddie DeLange — Mack Gordon — Allan Roberts — Doris Fisher — Dorothy Fields — Herb Magidson — Harold Adamson — Alec Wilder — Edward Heyman — Ralph Freed — Paul Francis Webster — Harold Rome — Johnny Burke — Don Raye — Don George — George Marion, Jr. — Johnny Mercer — Frank Loesser — Bobby Troup — Mack David — Jack Lawrence — Tom Adair — Sammy Cahn — William Engvick — Hugh Martin — Ralph Blane — Robert Wright — George Forrest — Irving Gordon — Jay Livingston — Ray Evans — Bob Russell — Bart Howard — Billy Strayhorn — Betty Comden — Adolph Green — John LaTouche — Bob Hilliard — Alan Jay Lerner — Jack Segal — Ervin Drake — Bob Merrill — Peggy Lee — George David Weiss — Richard Adler — Jerry Ross — Joseph McCarthy, Jr. — Marshall Barer — Sandy Wilson — Lee Adams — Sheldon Harnick — Alan Bergman — Marilyn Bergman — Carolyn Leigh — Fran Landesman — Gene Lees — Stephen Sondheim — Lionel Bart — Leslie Bricusse — Jerry Herman — Fred Ebb — Dave Frishberg — Richard Malty, Jr.
My list would include Lennon-McCartney and Bob Dylan! I like a lot of songs from The Great American Songbook, like “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” or “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” But I prefer hearing them sung as opposed to reading them!
Bob, I listen to music every day. But, actually reading some of these lyrics is fun!
I love the tricky internal rhyme schemes in works like “Anything Goes” and “Doctor’s Orders.”
Dan, “Anything Goes” is a masterpiece!
I love the mid-century American songbook, but so much of it is dependent on the arrangement and the interpretation by the singer. Ella, Frank, Mel, and Tony (I’m on a first-name basis with them) could sing anything and make the lyrics work, but that’s a skill and not all singers have it. It’s not just a clever rhyme or a deep lyric, there has to be a singer/interpreter worthy of the text.
Alas, the only singers I am on a first name basis with are Stinky, Three-Toes, Bubblebutt, and Perv-o — none pf whom ever sang any of the lyrics in this books.
Jerry, I’m not on a first name basis with any songwriters…but I listen to a lot of them!
Deb, you’re right. The right interpretation by the singer can make a song a standard…or a one-hit wonder.
Hard to beat Gershwin, Porter, Berlin. I think there are voices today that would do them justice but they don’t seem interested in it.
Patti, both Linda Ronstadt and Rod Stewart put out several albums of Standards.
As did Tony Bennett and Sinatra.
Some favorites:
Cole Porter
Lorenz Hart
Noel Coward
Hoagy Carmichael
Dorothy Fields
Johnny Mercer
Stephen Sondheim
Fred Ebb
I don’t see Jerry Leiber or Jacques Brel on the list.
Jeff, and no Bacharach/David, either. I’m guessing Gottlieb and Kimball focused on Broadway music mostly.
Berlin and Gershwin I remember – but the others?
No idea …
Wolf, you’d have a lot of listening to do if you went down the Rabbit Hole of learning about the composers of these 1000 songs!
I recognize more of the names than I thought I would thanks to listening to Mark Steyn’s old show on Serenade Radio. I’m not really a fan of most of the songs, but some of these guys had interesting lives and great stories.
I don’t see the singing governor Jimmie Davis mentioned, composer and lyricist of “You Are My Sunshine” — and the model for the Charles Durning character in O, Brother Where Art Thou.
Randy, I think Gottlieb and Kimball focused on what they considered the 1000 finest lyrics from that time period. But, “You Are My Sunshine” should have made the cut.
I’m sure I’ve either heard or read Steyn on many of the lyricists or songs mentioned — I just don’t remember the names. He always concentrates on the composer and lyricist in his “Song of the Week” pieces.
And speaking of Hoagy Carmichael, I learned the other day that, supposedly, Ian Fleming based his physical description of James Bond on Carmichael.
Randy, I’ve read that story of Ian Fleming basing James Bond on Hoagy Carmichael. I’m not sure I believe it, though.
I’m sure I’ve either heard or read Steyn on many of the lyricists or songs mentioned — I just don’t remember the names. He always concentrates on the composer and lyricist in his “Song of the Week” pieces.
And speaking of Hoagy Carmichael, I learned the other day that, supposedly, Ian Fleming based his physical description of James Bond on Carmichael.