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"Bunny M." is a seventeen-year-old Dallas resident who plays drums, piano
and clarinet. Her passion for jazz and the challenges she faces as
a youthful fan of it is the focus of her Jerry Jazz Musician column, "Accent
on Youth."
Listen to Dinah Washington sing Accent On Youth 
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Accent on Youth
by
Bunny M.
"Sing Sister Sing," by Aaron Waugh
S'Wonderful...Discovering Gershwin, Mercer and Ellington
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Words are a favorite plaything of mine. From rhyming to anagrams, pun
to metaphor and double-entendre, I have always taken great delight in shuffling
words around to create different meanings and patterns. Being something of
an aspiring poet, I've always intensely envied those persons so gifted with
gab as to have the ability to free verse, being able to pick up words and
run with them in a manner that makes sense while also being entertaining.
When set to music, however, words become an entirely new experience that
sometimes communicates more than either one could say on its own. Throughout
all of music great songs have been written which become universally known,
some of which even go on to become classics. For me, however, the most meaningful
and clever songwriting can be found most widely in jazz.
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| My first introduction to the appreciation of songwriting
came through the works of George and Ira Gershwin. Together, George -- the
handsome melodic master -- and his older brother Ira -- the genius and witty
wordsmith -- produced a stunning output of music, almost all of which
is widely known and considered a classic of popular music (that famous clarinet
glissando opening the "Rhapsody in Blue" is almost universally recognized).
Their working style was interesting, with George composing at the piano and
Ira seated at a fold-up card table immediately next to the piano. Perhaps
this closeness is why they were able to think on the same wavelength and
their music always seems to have such a cohesive quality. With the kind of
wild and complicated rhythms George was sometimes known to create, Ira had
to be a master to put together lyrics that were both logical, witty, and
oftentimes just as complex in their scheme as George's music. One ancedote
relates how George presented Ira with a heavily syncopated rhythm, to which
Ira wondered aloud how George could expect him to write lyrics to it!
I especially enjoy Ira's having no objection to changing
words to fit into his rhythmic and rhyme framework. For example, in "It Ain't
Necessarily So," Ira questioningly skirts about Biblical history, finding
ways to rhyme "Goliath/ who lay down and dieth" and "I take that Gospel/
wherever it's poss'ble." His playfulness is evident even in more serious
songs like the ballad "I Can't Get Started," whose lyrics (however conceitedly)
tell of one's accomplishments in all but a relationship: "All the movies
want me to star . . . When J.P. Morgan bows, I just nod . . . I've been consulted
by Franklin D./ Greta Garbo (or Frank Sinatra) had me to tea/ the Siamese
twins I've parted/ but I can't get started with you" (!) It's a song of
frustration and even sadness, yet one just can't help but smile and be amused
by Ira's humorous words. For all the brilliant and lighthearted wordplay,
however, Ira also had a serious side, as in the favorite "Someone to Watch
Over Me." I wish the introduction of this song were more commonly heard,
as it's truly lovely in both meaning and construction with its double rhymes
and triplets: |
George and Ira Gershwin
Rhapsody
in Blue, performed by NY Philharmonic
I Can't Get Started, sung by Carmen McRae
Someone to Watch Over Me, sung by Chet Baker
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There's a saying old says that love is blind
Still we're often told, seek and ye shall find
So I'm going to seek a certain lad I've had in mind
Looking everywhere, haven't found him yet
He's the big affair I cannot forget
Only man I ever think of with regret
I'd like to add his initial to my monogram
Tell me, where is the shepherd for this lost lamb? |
For me, the Gershwin songbook typifies the freewheeling
fun and elegance of the Roaring 20s, and yet they still continue to be widely
recorded and referenced in popular culture. I think the music of the Gershwins
could be quite appealing to young people today in both its simple, sentimental
poetry and its buoyant and carefree fun. During his entire life Ira Gershwin
always remained dedicated to preserving the purity of his and his brother's
work; he was always quick to setting the record straight, and disdained
renditions of their music which deviated in even the slightest way from the
original product. Even Frank Sinatra was not immune to Ira's exacting standards;
his 1960 version of "A Foggy Day" was frowned upon because Sinatra rendered
the phrase "with alarm" as "with much alarm," and any performer who attempted
to correct the grammar of "I Got Rhythm" was equally eschewed. I am thankful
that Ira Gershwin was as adamant and dedicated to their work as he was --
a golden era of our country's musical history has been beautifully preserved,
and the treasury of American standards is greatly enriched for it.
While listening to the songwriting wonders of the Gershwins
gives me great enjoyment, if there is any one songwriter I wish I could be
more than anyone else, it's Johnny Mercer. With over 1000 songs to his credit
including classics like "Autumn Leaves", "Fools Rush in", and "Days of Wine
and Roses" (the theme of the 1962 movie of the same title), Mercer ranks
as one of the most prolific songwriters, whose body of work peppers the songbook
of American popular standards. His writing abilities were revered enough
to often be called upon to provide lyrics for a song after it had already
become a hit, and more than once did he write English lyrics to foreign-language
songs. The Mercer magic is unmistakable: brilliant lyrics rich with abstract
beauty and meaning, and melodies that, be they tender ballads or catchy dance
numbers, rise and fall like natural conversation (a hallmark of good
songwriting). His ability with words is simply fascinating -- you have
to admire someone who can rhyme things like "chalice/palace/aurora borealis"
(as he does in the beautiful "Midnight Sun"), and the lyrics always seem
to perfectly complement their accompanying music (which he often wrote himself).
Johnny Mercer was one of those overly blessed souls that burst at the seams
with talent and genius; in addition to writing and composing, he could sing
as well, with a delightful casual voice that is pleasant and fun to hear,
and if that isn't enough, he founded Capitol records and helped launch the
careers of greats like Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra (who is known as one
of the greatest interpreters of popular music).
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Growing up in the South, Johnny Mercer was largely inspired
by the local bands he heard playing as a child (especially the music of Irving
Berlin), the charming colloquialisms of southern speech, and the sounds of
nature and the town. Writing seems to have been his forte from the beginning;
his first song, written when he was just barely out of his teens, made it
to Broadway, and shortly thereafter he joined the Paul Whiteman orchestra
as a songwriter. He collaborated with nearly all the other giants of popular
music, including Hoagy Carmichael, Henry Mancini, and Harold Arlen.
Johnny Mercer
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I'm Old Fashioned
, by Fred Astaire
Fools Rush In, by Frank Sinatra
One For My Baby and One More For the Road,
by Lena Horne |
I can almost always tell a Mercer tune just by hearing
it (even the first time around); if I find myself falling in love with a
song at the first note, I am usually (not) surprised to later find that it
was written by Johnny Mercer. Favorites are all but impossible to pick out,
but one of my earliest introductions to Mercer was through the great "Charade,"
the title theme of the outstanding Hitchcock-esque movie from 1963 (co-written
with Henry Mancini). And what an introduction! "Charade" is a song
heavy with poetic and lyrical imagery, the kind of song that lingers long
after you hear it; the shadowy melody, sad and haunting (that bridge always
takes my breath away), and the lyrics seem to dance sinuously in its midst;
indeed, the meaning of the song is just as enshrouded at the end of the song
as it was before.
Aside from the aural captivation of a Mercer melody,
the quality that I think makes Mercer so popular and enduring is his
timelessness. His music is just as fresh and moving as it was back in the
day, perhaps because it deals with lovely life themes of love and beauty
in such a way as to be able to be applied to almost any situation; a Mercer
song about a natural wonder could just as easily be applied to a person.
And for being an "old guy," he's pretty cool even today. His words were simple,
and even when they dealt with complex images, they still managed to have
a sort of youthful speech about them. I like to dream that I could be on
my way to one day being like Johnny Mercer: I grew up in the South, listening
to old music, and have a special fondness for finding unique ways to use
words. Now, if I could just get the composing, singing, and brilliant lyric
writing down . . . |
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| There are some things, however, that even the best
lyric writing cannot communicate. "It is very hard to speak through the
limitations of words" I once wrote, and nowhere is this more evident than
in the music of Duke Ellington. To be able to convey feelings, thoughts,
and epic adventures through the human spirit without ever uttering a single
word is the summit of excellence in songwriting, and Duke Ellington does
this better than anyone else. The Duke Ellington orchestra has been likened
to a painter's palette of musical voices, and Ellington's masterly ability
to mix these into infinite combinations of colors, tones, and textures produced
nearly 2,000 compositions of heartwrenching beauty. Duke Ellington is one
of my favorite musical figures, and classic songs like "Satin Doll", "Night
in Tunisia", and "It Don't Mean a Thing" only further cement my admiration
of him.
It's impossible to make it through life without hearing
an Ellington tune at some point (whether you know it or not), but my earliest
conscious Ellington experience was through a Scott Hamilton rendition of
the lovely and relatively little-known "Tonight I Shall Sleep with a Smile
on my Face," which left me completely breathless by the staggering, refined
beauty of the saxophone and strings interpretation of Ellington's serpentine
melody. By far, Duke Ellington's forte was the ballad, and over the years
I've fallen ever deeper in love with his signature fluid grace and sophisticated
elegance. His hand is that of a master painter -- virtually flawless at painting
lush, vivid landscapes that are tangible only to the mind and the soul --
only this artist's medium is music, and his extraordinary creativity his
tools.
The music of Duke Ellington is not for everyone; there
is so much, on so many levels, to be uncovered and comprehended that is a
daunting task for all but the most seasoned of listeners. It is rather heavy
music, and some young people might need to be warmed up to it before coming
to fully embrace it. I do think, however, that within Ellington's music lies
an undeniable energy and an ineffable mot juste that, to paraphrase
a Jobim tune, is able to make us aware of "things our hearts alone are meant
to see." |
photo by Lee Tanner
Duke Ellington
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Tonight I Shall Sleep with a Smile
on my Face, performed by Scott Hamilton
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Great songwriters like Johnny Mercer, the Gershwins,
and Duke Ellington have built up a vast depository of classic music whose
influence is impossible to escape even today. Their poetry in words and music
has given timeless speech to our everyday thoughts and emotions in a way
that is both entertaining and profound. How often do we sing along to our
favorite songs, without ever stopping to think and understand the words we
are singing? Next time you crank up your favorite tune, stop and listen:
a picture is worth a thousand words, and in the words (and music) of the
great songwriters, you can bet it is a beautiful picture indeed.
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Peace is the word,
Bunny
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"Bunny M." is a seventeen-year-old Dallas resident who plays drums, piano and
clarinet. Her passion for jazz and the challenges she faces as a youthful
fan of it is the focus of her Jerry Jazz Musician column, "Accent
on Youth."
You can contact Bunny at: lotusflower1922@hotmail.com
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Accent on Youth archive
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