He is a personality, first and foremost--warm, gregarious, overbearing at times, stimulating, real. He's all these things.
"By trade, he is a songwriter--gifted, expressive, original,
commercial, tireless, funny. All come out in his lyrics. I've never known, never sung a Cahn song that didn't say something. Maybe a few words or line or two, but he made his point.
Hell, they don't call this Shelley of Seward Park High School from New York's lower East Side the poet laureate of "Beverly Hills for
nothing--do they?"
Frank Sinatra

"Without the lyrics of Sammy Cahn, those of us who sing for a living
would have been hummers
Sylvia Simms

"--He is one of my heroes. A creator that never stops, always keeps going and is never dated."
Tony Bennett

"...Sammy was a taskmaster when it came to singing his lyrics
correctly. As a matter of fact, the only times he has really felt that they were sung correctly was when he sang them himself. I was suspicious of that until I watched him perform on Broadway to standing ovations. Now whenever I sing his songs I hope at my best to do a cheap imitation of Sammy Cahn--.....
Sammy Cahn--well in two words simply--"The Best!"
Margaret Whiting

"...an American institution and not just a legend in his own time but for all the times to come."
Jack Lemmon

"It is difficult to explain why Sammy Cahn's lyrics have had such a
tremendous impact on the songwriting business, but there may be three reasons.
First, Sammy Cahn is a "pro" to his fingertips....Songwriting is his
profession, and he will not accept anything but the best. Secondly, he has the natural feel for music and the emotion a tune can create that must be possessed by every top lyricist. And Sammy has that quality in abundance--just listen closely to what he writes, and you will hear. And finally he has the quick-thinking mind of a first-class advocate."
Mark White "You must remember this"......

Sammy about words....
"a word is only as good as the note it sits under"

[russkish3]

Satler, thank you for a great post. It concisely sums up the phenomenon that was Sammy Cahn. The man was just plain brilliant.

Best regards,

Russell Kishi
Glendale, California

[ARIES3032]

Sammy Cahn was a genuis.

[Barry]

I have been studying Sammy for a while now. He produced a great book about how to write lyrics. All the sounds and words that rhyme for example. He certainly knew his business, that's for sure. I saw him once on tv in England talking about his life's work and influences. ( Singing also) Who was he talking about most of the time? Frank Sinatra of course.

I remember Sammy talking about certain massive hits that Frank had created from Sammy's lyrics. He was saying how Frank had altered the words to make them work better etc' etc'. It was a fantastic collaberation. Without Frank, Sammy would not have been so big and he knew it.
RIP Sammy.

[Mark Blackburn]

I'm a frustrated lyric writer who cannot go a DAY without writing at least ONE parody of some great song lyric -- and most often it is one of Sammy Cahn's that I'm spoofing, because the originals are just so memorable! Sammy was a genius who 'elevated' and made greater the very best work of some of the past century's truly great composers.

----

When you think about it, Sammy Cahn always seemed to be having more “fun” than any other great song writer, crafting clever, sardonic -- even laugh-out-loud-funny --- lyrics that have stood the test of time. "Teach Me Tonight," springs to mind as a song that will never go out of date. Such wry, loving, gentle humor abounds in his best work.

Just when you think you have Sammy 'pegged' as a funny and fun-loving lyricist . . . he turns around and delivers a lyric of aching poignancy like "Only the Lonely" (whose words took Mr. Cahn an almost painfully long time to craft).

One of my top favorites (after "I'll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her") was one of Sammy's last, great works -- best performed by Frank Sinatra with that breathtakingly beautiful Don Costa arrangement (one of Don's finest orchestrations).

From 'memory imperfect' I can close my eyes and hear FS singing these words from the very heart of Sammy Cahn . . .


Today I may not have a thing at all . . .
Except for just a dream or two,
But I’ve got lots of plans for tomorrow!
And all my tomorrows . . . belong to YOU.

Right now it may not seem like spring at all . . .
We’re drifting . . . and the laughs are few . . .
But I’ve got rainbows planned for tomorrow!
And all my tomorrows belong to YOU.

No one knows better than I, that luck keeps passing me by – that’s fate!
But with you there at my side, I’ll soon be turning the tide --- just wait!

As long as I’ve got arms that cling at all,
It’s YOU that I’ll be clinging to . . .
And all the dreams I dream, beg or borrow,
On some bright tomorrow
They’ll all come true!
And all my bright tomorrows belong to . . .
YOU.

(the penultimate track on the album with 19 of Frank Sinatra's late-in-life all-time favorites from among his 450 song catalog at Reprise: "Everything Happens to Me" -- which includes two other Cahn/Van Heusen classics.)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002N3Z/102-6283014-4540130?v=glance

Behind the magic of Frank's interpretations, it's sometimes easy to take for granted the impact Mr. Cahn had. Great post!

Don

The Van Heusen-Cahn song was recorded twice.

First, with a Nelson Riddle arrangement, for a Capitol single (1958) which appeared in the album, All The Way. It's also available in the CD compilations, Sinatra 80th: All The Best and Frank Sinatra Sings The Select Sammy Cahn (and, of course, The Complete Capitol Singles Collection).

The Reprise version (1969), with the Don Costa chart, first appeared in the album, My Way. There are two threads here in Frank's Recordings for the 1996 Reprise compilation CD which also contains this tune:

(1) Everything Happens To Me
(2) Everything Happens To Me

[Mark Blackburn]

Thanks Bob for posting those links, which led me to read (for the first time) Paul McCartney's on-the-spot, parody-in-advance for what would become the most-recorded song in history.

One link led to another . . . and suddenly we find a 'bump' by Bernhard, inviting us to read his 'article' about "Yesterday's Recipe," complete with Paul's 'prequel' spoof -- my kind of instant parody (and one I'll bet Sammy would have loved). Thanks again Bob and Bernhard!

To the tune of "Yesterday"

Scrambled Eggs,
Have an omelette with some Muenster cheese,
Put your dishes in the washbin, please,
So I can clean the scrambled eggs.

Join me, do,

There's a lot of eggs for me and you,
I've got ham and cheese, and bacon, too,
So go get two, and join me, do.

Fried or sunny side, just ain't right,
The mix-bowl begs.

Quick, go get a pan, and we'll scramble up some eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs...

Scrambled eggs,
Good for breakfast, dinner time or brunch,
Don't buy six or twelve, (go) buy a bunch,
And we'll have lunch
On scrambled eggs.

[victor m.]

Sammy and Frank, Magic Time.

[Mark Blackburn]

"What's an automat?" My five year old grandaughter Emily asked me that question last night, while listening to her favorite singer -- Frank Sinatra. She requested we listen to the "Christmas Collection" (2004) ---- after I read her the review I wrote for that one at Amazon.com last December with its references to the little Lady herself.

We'd just been listening to the "Polar Express" movie soundtrack, and then Emily said, "Put on Frank's Christmas, Grumpa!" As I listened to it with her I reflected on the fact that three of the four Christmas classics written by Sammy Cahn are on this album (the only one missing but included on earlier Sinatra Christmas collections) is "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow."

Anyway . . . comes the point in the lyrics for "Old Fashioned Christmas" and the word "automat" and so I explained to Emily this 'antique' term (it wasn't easy -- try to explain it to yourself in 25 words or less!)

----

Yes, Sammy Cahn's "Christmas Waltz" is one of the half dozen most beautiful Xmas season 'classics' ever written. The third Sammy Cahn song on "Frank Sinatra The Christmas Collection" is the delightful Sinatra-family performance of "I Wouldn't Trade Christmas."

Only one other great composer (words AND music) Irving Berlin ever wrote TWO Christmas standards -- both of which are also on this great Sinatra Xmas compilation (and Emily's favorites, along with J. Fred Coots' "Santa Claus is Coming to Town").

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00063MC66/104-7537315-6711909?v=glance


It's just one other distinction added to the illustrious achievements of the great Mr. Cahn. There hasn't been a lyricist of his stature since his passing, and it's safe to say we'll never know his like again!


Mark B.
Winnipeg

[Barry]

Hi
Sammy says that the words don't have to make sense in a song.
They must rhyme or have "symetrical pattern" ( I think is the phrase?)
People puzzle over various words and what they mean in a song for YEARS.
Only to find out eventually that " They don't mean a thing, all they
really do is swing"
Bazza

[Mark Blackburn]

“Sammy says that the words don't have to make sense in a song. They must rhyme or have "symmetrical pattern" (I think is the phrase?) People puzzle over various words and what they mean in a song for YEARS, only to find out eventually that ‘They don't mean a thing, all they really do is swing’.”

-----

Wonder what song Sammy had in mind? ("Marzy Doats"? . . . "and does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy"?) Because that observation attributed to Sammy simply doesn’t apply to any of HIS finest songs. (Or to any other great song lyric you could name.)

Either there was a context to that remark (context is EVERYTHING -- isn’t it?) . . . or maybe Sammy was just being provocative in a playful way, with an interviewer, who (I’m guessing) may have asked him: “What did you mean to convey? (when you used a particular word or phrase).

----

The fact is, there are NO great song lyrics containing mere ‘throwaway’ words, or phrases that actually “don’t mean a thing.” Try to name even ONE of Sammy Cahn’s best song lyrics which contains a phrase or word that you think is ultimately meaningless, or which only served to improve the cadences of a phrase, or simply to achieve some “rhyme (and) symmetrical pattern(s).”

In fact, the funnier and more whimsical the lyric is (“There’s a Flaw in My Flue” springs to mind) the more critical it becomes for the lyricist to select just the right word (there's usually only one that will be 'perfect for the occasion.')

Which isn’t to say a great lyricist will NEVER choose – as a sort of witty ‘conceit’ -- a particular word that not one person in one million can define! My favorite from Sammy? Terpsichore!

Admit it: If you even knew how to SPELL the word, (the first time you heard Frank Sinatra sing “Come Dance with Me”) you HAD to open a dictionary (a big one printed on paper and containing more than 50,000 definitions). And there, you learned for the first time it is a Greek word, “relating to the Greek muse of the dance.” And thus “To delight in the dance.” And in the context Sammy-the-genius chose to use it – the word is merely perfect, wouldn’t you agree?

“Come dance with me! What an evenin’
For,
Some,
Terpsichore!”

http://www.sinatrafamily.com/forum/s...threadid=16957

(complete with artwork)

Born June 18, 1913 in New York, NY, Sammy Cahn is remembered today as one of the 20th Century's most diverse lyricists. He scored his first hit at age 21, but his most famous works were written years later as collaborations with other popular songwriters of the era, Jule Styne and Jimmy Van Heusen, after ending a writing partnership with Saul Chaplin for Warner Bros. in the early 1940's.

Cahn's enormous popularity, however, stemmed from his songs written for old friend and leader of the Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra. As his relationship with Jule Styne weakened in the mid-1950's Cahn began writing songs for Sinatra including hits such as "High Hopes" and "Come Fly With Me."

From 1973 until his death in 1993, Sammy Cahn served as President Emeritus for the Songwriters Hall of Fame, "the organization dedicated to recognizing and honoring the accomplishments and lives of those men and women who create the popular songs that serve as the soundtrack of our lives."

[MAP 55]

Cahn , the magic man of Songs!

[Mark Blackburn]

Thank you Ray! We Sammy Cahn fans were hoping someone would craft (like a fine cabinet maker) a concise few paragraphs on the highlights of Sammy's life. And thanks too for that beautiful graphic -- what a perfect portrait. (I'll bet it was Sammy's favorite!)

Oh and Ray . . . I thought Paradise was in California -- literally. (Although my sister, living in Tallahassee, agrees with you that paradise is closer to Boynton Beach!)

Here's to your next 48 years!

As our favorite singer once said, "May you live to be one hundred . . . and may the last voice you hear (on earth) be mine."

Mark B.
Winnipeg

[Barry]

Read Sammy's book on lyrics. He said that himself. You argue with him!

[Mark Blackburn]

Johnny Mercer is generally regarded as the greatest (non-theatrical) lyricist of them all – all his peers agreed about his stature, and would say to him-- to borrow a song title from Cole Porter -- “You’re the top!” (Porter was once asked – Of all the songs you DIDN’T write, which one would you most like to have written? Porter’s one-word reply: “Laura.”)

Whenever his own opinions were sought (about the greatest lyricists) Johnny would routinely forget to mention Dorothy Fields, Oscar Hammerstein and . . . Sammy Cahn. It was an innocent oversight, I’m sure. I can imagine Johnny listening to the best of Sammy Cahn’s lyrics (my nominee below) and saying, “Jeeper’s creepers! Wish I’d written that!” Track eight on the album Frank Sinatra long considered his best from the Capitol Years:

Riddle’s sublime arrangement and Frank’s definitive delivery make this my all-time favorite ballad – even on an album that has TWO classics by Mercer. Much as I love those, this one from the pen of Sammy Cahn is even closer to lyrical perfection. (From mem’ry as Sammy would say)

(verse)

The torch I carry is handsome . . .
It’s worth its heartache – in ransom
And when the twilight steals . . .
I know how the Lady in the Harbor feels.

When I want rain -- I get sunny weather,
I’m just as blue as the sky.
Since love is gone, can’t pull myself together!
Guess I’ll hang my tears out to dry.

Friends ask me out – I tell them I’m busy.
I MUST get a new alibi.
I stay at home, and ask myself, Who is he?
Guess I’ll hang my tears out to dry.

Dry little teardrops . . . my little teardrops,
Hanging on a string of dreams . . .
Fly little mem’ries! My little mem’ries,
Remind Her of our crazy schemes . . .

Somebody said, Just forget about her!
So I gave that treatment a try.
Strangely enough – I got along without her!
Then one day she passed me right by . . . .
Oh well . . .
I guess
I’ll hang my tears out
To dry.

[Mark Blackburn]

If imitation is indeed the most sincere form of flattery, then Sammy Cahn is surely the most imitated of lyricists.

As a frustrated lyricist myself, I can't go a day without composing a parody of some memorable song -- and it always seems to be a Sammy Cahn lyric I'm imitating!

On another thread, ("Please be Kind") Nancy joked that her uncle Dean would sing, "This is my first affair, please be clean!" It was all the emotional trigger I needed to get punning! Within five minutes I had penned my own version of how the Percy Bysshe Shelley of Beverly Hills might have completed that parody for Mr. Martin's amusement. (If you're looking down Mr. Cahn, hope you approve!)

----

This is my first affair . . . please be clean!
Handle our jewels with care – please be clean!

And with a ‘bird in hand’ . . . my dreams are on parade!
‘Cause you understand, my wilder dreams won’t fade!

So scrub us until we’re blue -- or squeaky clean!
Can’t ask much more of you -- than good hygiene!

So tell me dear, your skin is clear – so I can enjoy this scene!
If you love me, baby – please be clean!

[Mark Blackburn]

I've been enjoying, as if for the first time, the marvelous 4-CD "Best of Columbia Years" box set -- for which Nancy wrote the perfect introduction.

Nancy quotes the Cole Porter of Brazil, Antonio Carlos Jobim as saying that "Frank Sinatra was like Mount Everest for a songwriter: if you got Frank to do one of your songs it was done right."

And "that feeling" says Nancy, "is what enabled Dad to take, for example, a Sammy Cahn lyric -- with Sammy's deepest, most profound feelings -- and make it understood by everybody."

After re-reading Nancy's heartfelt tribute, I started re-counting the number of Sammy Cahn songs in this collection (most of the best ones with Jule Styne). Sammy's total? Eleven songs --- twice as many as any other lyricist. (And many of his best songs -- with Jimmy Van Heusen -- were still years away.)

In his appreciation of "Sinatra Standards" (included with the unsurpassed liner notes for this 4-CD Columbia box set) Roy Hemming notes that Sammy's "Saturday Night" (is the Loneliest Night of the Week) "held special meaning to many in 1944 whose husbands or boyfriends were away fighting in WWII . . . (and that) this marked the first recording of a song by Styne & Cahn."

Their classic "Five Minutes More" was then rescued from a forgettable B-movie, and "which Sinatra's recording turned into a 22-week chart-buster with four weeks in the Number 1 spot."

"Meanwhile," Hemming says, "Sinatra was instrumental in getting M-G-M to hire Styne and Cahn to write songs for two of his most successful mid-'40s movies" which resulted in the classics, "I Fall in Love Too Easily," and "Time after Time."

Sammy followed with "I Should Care" -- to a melody by Paul Weston and Axel Stordahl. The trio then turned around and wrote the lovely "Day by Day" -- a hit for Sinatra, Doris Day AND Bing Crosby -- to the delight of Sammy Cahn, enjoying multiple royalty cheques for the same composition.

But Sammy would have been the first to say, his greatest thrill in life wasn't monetary. It was hearing Frank Sinatra sing his best songs.

[Four years after his friend’s passing (in 1993) Frank Sinatra approved the inclusion of no fewer than eight Sammy Cahn standards, the lion’s share among 40 tracks, on his perennial, best-seller, “The Very Best of Frank Sinatra” – the Reprise-era double-CD collection. Maybe the singer is telling us something!]

Mark B.
Winnipeg