Irving Gordon
Irving Gordon | |
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Irving Gordon, ca 1950 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Irving Gordon |
Born | (1915-02-14)February 14, 1915 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S |
Origin | Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. |
Died | December 1, 1996(1996-12-01) (aged 81) Malibu, California, U.S |
Occupation(s) | Songwriter |
Irving Gordon (February 14, 1915 – December 1, 1996) was an American songwriter.
Early life and education
Gordon was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Jewish family, and later lived on Coney Island. He was named Israel Goldener but later changed his name to Irving Gordon. As a child, he studied violin.
Career
After attending public schools in New York City, Gordon worked in the Catskill Mountains at some of the resort hotels in the area. While working there, he took to writing parody lyrics to some of the popular songs of the day. In the 1930s, he took a job with the music publishing firm headed by talent agent Irving Mills, at first writing only lyrics, but subsequently writing music as well.
After Gordon was introduced to Duke Ellington in 1937, Ellington sometimes invited him to put lyrics to his compositions. However working with Ellington was probably one of the most difficult commissions there was, since most of the Ellington songs were really instrumental pieces whose singable potential only emerged after they had been played and recorded by one or another of the soloists in the Ellington orchestra.[1] While working as Ellington's lyricist, Gordon wrote the lyrics to Billy Strayhorn's piece "Prelude to a Kiss." For years he like many other composers worked out of the Brill Building in Manhattan.
After writing "Mister and Mississippi", Gordon decided he enjoyed puns on state names and later wrote "Delaware," which was a hit for Perry Como.
His 1956 hit for Patti Page, "Mama from the Train" was written to describe the love of a mother who had been born in the old country, but although the lyrics identify her as "Pennsylvania Dutch", the shifts into and out of a minor key mark the melody as Eastern European, and it was widely perceived as a tribute to a Yiddish-speaking mother.
Irving Gordon is perhaps best known for his song, "Unforgettable." He also wrote "Allentown Jail", which was played by numerous musicians and told the story of a man who stole a diamond for his girlfriend and ended up in the Allentown jail, unable to make bail and was recorded by the French singer, Edith Piaf among others.
Late in his life, Gordon won a Grammy for Song of the Year when Natalie Cole re-recorded her father Nat "King" Cole's earlier hit of "Unforgettable." Gordon wrote both the lyrics and music for "Unforgettable."
Gordon did not care for rock music, which he said was composed not of "melodies but maladies."[2] Gordon told the Los Angeles Times that by 1960 the vogue for rhymed words and hummable melodies had passed, "So I became a tennis pro. I have many lives."[3]
Gordon's obituary claimed that he wrote the Abbott and Costello baseball comedy routine, "Who's on First?." This claim was never made by Gordon when he was alive, and others have also claimed authorship. The duo perfected the routine after they formally teamed in 1936.
Gordon is noted for his contribution to music and lyrics of the Americana genre. For example, it was commonly thought that his song Two Brothers was about the civil war.
For several years before his death, he was writing a musical about Sigmund Freud.
Death
Irving Gordon died of multiple myeloma cancer in Malibu, California. He was survived by two sons.
Partial selection of his published songs
- "Allentown Jail"
- "Be Anything, But Darling Be Mine"
- "Blue Prelude" (lyrics by Gordon Jenkins; music by Joe Bishop)
- "Delaware" (Perry Como hit vocal)
- "Mama From The Train" (Patti Page hit vocal)
- "Me, Myself and I" (Billie Holiday hit vocal, co-written with Allen Roberts and Alvin S. Kaufman)
- "Mister and Mississippi" (Patti Page hit vocal)
- "Nine Tenths of the Tennessee River" (Moon Mullican country blues ballad)
- "Prelude to a Kiss" (lyrics by Gordon; music by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills)
- "Two Brothers" (Civil War Song)[4]
- "Unforgettable" (major hit for Nat King Cole, Grammy Award in 1992)
- "What Will I Tell My Heart" (Bing Crosby hit vocal)
- "Sinner or Saint" (1952)
- "Sorta on the Border" (1953)
- "The Kentuckian Song" (Eddy Arnold vocal from the Burt Lancaster film The Kentuckian, 1955)
- "Rollin' Stone" (Perry Como vocal)
- "Too Fat For the Chimney" (1953) (Gisele Mackenzie, recorded on "Christmas Songs For Bad Little Boys & Girls"). Note - his Original last name was spelled Goldner. His grandmother was from a part of Austria-Hungary now in Slovakia.
References
- ^ Benny Green. Obituary: Irving Gordon: Simply Unforgettable. The Guardian (London), December 4, 1996 Features page; Pg. 16
- ^ Irv Lichtman. 10th Yr. For Writers' Haven; Irving Gordon Rages Again. Billboard June 13, 1992, Artists & Music; Words & Music; Pg. 18.
- ^ Myrna Oliver. Obituary; Irving Gordon; Composer of 'Unforgettable.' Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1996 Page: 26, Section: A; Metro Desk.
- ^ Irwin Silber, Jerry Silverman (1995). Songs of the Civil War. Dover Publications. ISBN 9780486284385. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
- v
- t
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- "Nel blu, dipinto di blu (Volare)" – Domenico Modugno (songwriter) (1958)
- "The Battle of New Orleans" – Jimmy Driftwood (songwriter) (1959)
- "Theme of Exodus" – Ernest Gold (songwriter) (1960)
- "Moon River" – Johnny Mercer & Henry Mancini (songwriters) (1961)
- "What Kind of Fool Am I?" – Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley (songwriters) (1962)
- "Days of Wine and Roses" – Johnny Mercer & Henry Mancini (songwriters) (1963)
- "Hello, Dolly!" – Jerry Herman (songwriter) (1964)
- "The Shadow of Your Smile" – Paul Francis Webster & Johnny Mandel (songwriters) (1965)
- "Michelle" – John Lennon & Paul McCartney (songwriters) (1966)
- "Up, Up, and Away" – Jimmy Webb (songwriter) (1967)
- "Little Green Apples" – Bobby Russell (songwriter) (1968)
- "Games People Play" – Joe South (songwriter) (1969)
- "Bridge over Troubled Water" – Paul Simon (songwriter) (1970)
- "You've Got a Friend" – Carole King (songwriter) (1971)
- "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" – Ewan MacColl (songwriter) (1972)
- "Killing Me Softly with His Song" – Norman Gimbel & Charles Fox (songwriters) (1973)
- "The Way We Were" – Alan and Marilyn Bergman & Marvin Hamlisch (songwriters) (1974)
- "Send In the Clowns" – Stephen Sondheim (songwriter) (1975)
- "I Write the Songs" – Bruce Johnston (songwriter) (1976)
- "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" – Barbra Streisand & Paul Williams (songwriters) / "You Light Up My Life" – Joe Brooks (songwriter) (1977)
- "Just the Way You Are" – Billy Joel (songwriter) (1978)
- "What a Fool Believes" – Kenny Loggins & Michael McDonald (songwriters) (1979)
- "Sailing" – Christopher Cross (songwriter) (1980)
- "Bette Davis Eyes" – Donna Weiss & Jackie DeShannon (songwriters) (1981)
- "Always on My Mind" – Johnny Christopher, Mark James & Wayne Carson (songwriters) (1982)
- "Every Breath You Take" – Sting (songwriter) (1983)
- "What's Love Got to Do with It" – Graham Lyle & Terry Britten (songwriters) (1984)
- "We Are the World" – Michael Jackson & Lionel Richie (songwriters) (1985)
- "That's What Friends Are For" – Burt Bacharach & Carole Bayer Sager (songwriters) (1986)
- "Somewhere Out There" – James Horner, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil (songwriters) (1987)
- "Don't Worry, Be Happy" – Bobby McFerrin (songwriter) (1988)
- "Wind Beneath My Wings" – Larry Henley & Jeff Silbar (songwriters) (1989)
- "From a Distance" – Julie Gold (songwriter) (1990)
- "Unforgettable" – Irving Gordon (songwriter) (1991)
- "Tears in Heaven" – Eric Clapton & Will Jennings (songwriters) (1992)
- "A Whole New World" – Alan Menken & Tim Rice (songwriters) (1993)
- "Streets of Philadelphia" – Bruce Springsteen (songwriter) (1994)
- "Kiss from a Rose" – Seal (songwriter) (1995)
- "Change the World" – Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick & Tommy Sims (songwriters) (1996)
- "Sunny Came Home" – Shawn Colvin & John Leventhal (songwriters) (1997)
- "My Heart Will Go On" – James Horner & Will Jennings (songwriters) (1998)
- "Smooth" – Itaal Shur & Rob Thomas (songwriters) (1999)
- "Beautiful Day" – Adam Clayton, David Evans, Laurence Mullen & Paul Hewson (songwriters) (2000)
- "Fallin'" – Alicia Keys (songwriter) (2001)
- "Don't Know Why" – Jesse Harris (songwriter) (2002)
- "Dance with My Father" – Richard Marx & Luther Vandross (songwriters) (2003)
- "Daughters" – John Mayer (songwriter) (2004)
- "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" – Adam Clayton, David Evans, Laurence Mullen & Paul Hewson (songwriters) (2005)
- "Not Ready to Make Nice" – Emily Burns Erwin, Martha Maguire, Natalie Maines Pasdar & Dan Wilson (songwriters) (2006)
- "Rehab" – Amy Winehouse (songwriter) (2007)
- "Viva la Vida" – Guy Berryman, Jonathan Buckland, William Champion & Christopher Martin (songwriters) (2008)
- "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" – Thaddis "Kuk" Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart (songwriters) (2009)
- "Need You Now" – Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott (songwriters) (2010)
- "Rolling in the Deep" – Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth (songwriters) (2011)
- "We Are Young" – Jack Antonoff, Jeff Bhasker, Andrew Dost & Nate Ruess (songwriters) (2012)
- "Royals" – Joel Little & Ella Yelich O'Connor (songwriters) (2013)
- "Stay with Me" (Darkchild version) – James Napier, William Phillips & Sam Smith (songwriters) (2014)
- "Thinking Out Loud" – Ed Sheeran & Amy Wadge (songwriters) (2015)
- "Hello" – Adele Adkins & Greg Kurstin (songwriters) (2016)
- "That's What I Like" – Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip (songwriters) (2017)
- "This Is America" – Donald Glover, Ludwig Göransson & Jeffery Lamar Williams (songwriters) (2018)
- "Bad Guy" – Billie Eilish O'Connell & Finneas O'Connell (songwriters) (2019)
- "I Can't Breathe" – Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. & Tiara Thomas (songwriters) (2020)
- "Leave the Door Open" – Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II & Bruno Mars (songwriters) (2021)
- "Just Like That" – Bonnie Raitt (songwriter) (2022)
- "What Was I Made For?" – Billie Eilish O'Connell & Finneas O'Connell (songwriters) (2023)