Johnny Mercer 1909 - 1976

Lyricist, composer and singer Johnny Mercer was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1909. Johnny Mercer's main claim to immortality is his incredible songwriting output, penning the lyrics or music and lyrics to roughly 1,500 songs. Marked by a sophisticated, occasionally whimsical mastery of language and rhymes. His many collaborators have included Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Gordon Jenkins, and Harry Warren. He became a writer for the stage with his first show the "Garrick Gaieties of 1930" and then succeeded as vocalist with the Paul Whiteman band in the early thirties.

By 1946 Johnny Mercer had been a pop music vocalist for eight years. He had hit songs with Bing Crosby in the late 1930s, with Jo Stafford ("Candy') and on his own, especially "Accentuate the Positive." On the radio he sang with Benny Goodman and had his own shows, including "Johnny Mercer's Music Shop." In 1946 he returned to the hit parade with "My Sugar Is So Refined". By the end of the year Mercer had a huge hit with "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" from Disney's, "Song of the South".

Johnny Mercer had a top ten hit with the old Clyde McCoy band hit "Sugar Blues" with the Paul Weston Orchestra . In 1949 a duet with Margaret Whiting on the tune "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from the film "Neptunes Daughter" was a huge national hit. A recording made in 1949 but not released until 1952 on a tune originally from Germany and now called "Glow Worm" with new lyrics by Mercer, was his last chart appearance as a vocalist.

Johnny Mercer set a standard for writing lyrics for popular songs that will never be equaled. His output was enormous and he spanned the early days of the Swing Era through the thundering days of the mid-sixties progressive rock era. As a songwriter he won Academy Awards for "The Atchison, Topeka and The Santa Fe" (1946, with Harry Warren), "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" (1951, with Hoagy Carmichael), "Moon River' (1961, with Henry Mancini) and "Days of Wine an Roses" (1962, with Mancini). As president and co-founder of Capitol Records, Mercer was instrumental in the early recording careers of such musicians as Peggy Lee and Nat King Cole. He died in Los Angeles in 1976.

A partial list of Johnny Mercer Songs........

Lazybones (1933) (Music by Hoagy Carmichael)

P.S. I Love You (1934) Music by Gordon Jenkins)

I’m Building Up To An Awful Let Down (1935) (Music by Fred Astaire)

Goody Goody (1935) (Music by Matt Malneck)

I'm An Old Cowhand (1936) (Words and music by Johnny Mercer)

Too Marvelous For Words (1937) (Music by Richard Whiting)

Hooray For Hollywood (1937) (Music by Richard Whiting)

You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby (1938) (Music by Harry Warren)

Jeepers Creepers (1938) (Music by Harry Warren)

And The Angels Sing (1939) (Music by Ziggy Elman from Benny Goodmans band))

Day In - Day Out (1939) (Music by Rube Bloom)

I Thought About You (1939) (Music by Jimmy Van Heusen)

Fools Rush In (1940) Goody Goody (1935) (Music by Rube Bloom)

Blues In The Night (1941) (Music by Harold Arlen)

Hit The Road To Dreamland (1942) (Music by Harold Arlen)

I Remember You (1942) (Music by Victor Schertzinger)

Skylark (1942) (Music by Hoagy Carmichael)

Tangerine (1942) (Music by Victor Schertzinger)

I'm Old Fashioned (1942) (Music by Jerome Kern)

Dearly Beloved (1942)(Music by Jerome Kern)

That Old Black Magic (1942) (Music by Harold Arlen)

Strip Polka (1942) (Words and music by Johnny Mercer)

G.I. Jive (1943) (Words and music by Johnny Mercer)

My Shining Hour (1943) (Music by Harold Arlen)

One For My Baby (1943) (Music by Harold Arlen)

Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive (1944) (music by Harold Arlen)

Dream (1944) (Words and music by Johnny Mercer)

Out Of This World(1945) (Music by Harold Arlen)

Laura (1945) (Music by David Raskin)

Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home (1946) (Music by Harold Arlen)

Come Rain Or Come Shine (1946) (Music by Harold Arlen)

Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fe (1946) (Music by Harry Warren) Oscar:The Harvey Girls

Autumn Leaves (1947 / 1950) (Music by Joseph Kosma)

Midnight Sun (1947) (Music by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke)

I Wanna Be A Dancin' Man ( Music by Harry Warren)

In The Cool Cool Cool Of The Evening(1951)(Hoagy Carmichael) Oscar:Here Comes The Groom

Glow-Worm (1952 / 1902) (Music by Paul Lincke)

Somethings Gotta Give (1954) (Words and music by Johnny Mercer)

Satin Doll (1953 / 1958 (music by Duke Ellington)

Moon River (1961) (Music by Henry Mancini)Oscar: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Charade (1961) (Music by Henry Mancini)

Days of Wine and Roses (1962) (Music by Henry Mancini) Oscar

I Wanna Be Around(1962)(Music/Mercer) Words Mercer/Sadie Vimmerstedt)

Emily (1964) (Music by Johnny Mandel)

Summer Wind (1965) (music by Henry Mayer)