[78-L] Happy 100th, Johnny Mercer

[simmonssomer]

I remember Mercer's "The Air Minded Executive"  (He dearly loved to fly)
One of my earliest  Capitols.

Al S.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Sultanof" <jeffsultanof at gmail.com>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 11:10 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Happy 100th, Johnny Mercer


> Johnny Mercer's Capitol Records with Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers or just
> himself with Paul Weston's Orchestra (often the arrangements were written 
> by
> Skip Martin) are among my favorite recordings of all time. Fantastic vocal
> and instrumental arrangements, near-perfect performances - there is so 
> much
> love on these records.
>
> I well remember afternoons with my mentor Jerry Graff, who had one of the
> greatest vocal groups ever, The Beachcombers. We would sit and listen to
> these records and Jerry would tell me what to listen for and why something
> worked as well as it did. Sharing these records with him turned out to be
> great arranging lessons.
>
> I have one great favorite, "Movie Tonight," a record I first heard when I
> was three years old. I still get shivers when I hear it.
>
> May Johnny rest in peace.
>
> Jeff Sultanof
>
> On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 10:47 PM, Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> No harm intended, Randy. Guess we just agree to disagree. I found the
>> program eminently entertaining and not at all irritating. Maybe some 
>> newbies
>> will be encouraged to pick up Gene Lees' splendid bio of Mercer, 
>> "Portrait
>> of Johnny" that came out a few years ago.
>>
>>
>>
>> I only wished that they had included "The Sweetheart Tree" from "The 
>> Great
>> Race," which Mercer wrote with Henry Mancini. I think that was one of his
>> best songs.
>>
>>
>>
>> One thing that would have been nice to include as maybe a voiceover 
>> (unless
>> there was video taken of this), was a one-man concert Mercer gave in the
>> early 70s that was issued as part of a 3-LP box set from the
>> Book-of-the-Month called "An Evening With." Each LP features a solo
>> performance by a classic American songwriter. Mercer's on one, Sammy Cahn 
>> on
>> another and Alan Jay Lerner on the third. You talk about a whirlwind 
>> show.
>> Mercer sang parts of 50 of his songs in that hour. I haven't listened to 
>> the
>> LP in quite a while, but I'm going to drag it out this weekend and listen 
>> to
>> it again.
>>
>>
>>
>> Cary Ginell
>>
>> > Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 18:32:23 -0800
>> > From: forwardintothepast at yahoo.com
>> > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>> > Subject: Re: [78-L] Happy 100th, Johnny Mercer
>> >
>> > Cary, I didn't want analysis, I merely wanted Mercer's lyrics to be
>> heard.
>> >
>> > This was cut with such a short attention span that any given song 
>> > wasn't
>> performed by one artist, it was performed by six or seven, sometimes with
>> jarring key changes along the way. And you're right--everybody was
>> identified, along with the source of the material, which normally I would
>> applaud, but when each shot only lasted six or seven seconds at best it 
>> made
>> for a tremendous amount of visual clutter, all of which distracted 
>> mightily
>> from appreciating the nuances of Mercer's lyrics. I felt like Johnny was
>> softly trying to sing one of his songs, while a juggler and a circus 
>> clown
>> and a guy on a pogo stick were all blocking our view of him.
>> >
>> > This should have been edited with more of an emphasis and respect for
>> Mercer's words. Lyrics are delicate things.
>> >
>> > I should note that I thought the biographical portions of the show were
>> generally fine, just not organized the way I would have liked. You and I
>> know Mercer's story forward and backward, so if this documentary actually
>> told it forward and backward, we still knew what happened and when. 
>> Someone
>> who was just learning about Mercer would be mightily confused, I suspect.
>> >
>> > --Randy
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>>
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