American Songwriters -- Johnny Mercer (American Songwriters Series) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm not sure on what grounds you could rate this collection less than 5 stars.I supplemented it with a more complete collection as well as "The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer," which has got to be the heaviest, most voluminous volume I've ever received from Amazon (I probably wouldn't send it to someone--the postage would be prohibitive).This collection by Alfred Publishing has about two dozen Mercer staples, with lyrics, accurate chord choices, and careful attention to detail (I had been hearing the last two measures of the bridge for "Skylark" wrong, thanks to numerous errant recorded performances of the song).The book "lays flat"--always a crucial consideration for the piano player (who has enough other problems to think about)--and produces no eye-strain (in terms of the words, notes, or chords).You could possibly quibble about song selection, though there's nothing here that's expendable. So the question would be: were the book to be expanded, what additional songs would you like to see?"When October Goes" has quickly become a favorite of mine, as has "This Time the Dream's On Me" (which I was surprised to see that Charlie Parker frequently performed--but only on bootleg, noisy and low-fidelity recordings).Also, there are songs inextricably associated with Mercer's name--"Candy," for example, was a million-copy seller for him, even though rather than have a hand in writing it, he "merely" performed and recorded it."Tangerine" probably falls into the same category.And no doubt there are still some trumpet players looking for an excuse to play Clyde McCoy's "Sugar Blues," for which Mercer supplied lyrics.Then there's the "patriotic" jump tune "G. I. Jive" (actually a delightfully subversive, anti-military number).But perhaps the most serious omission is "Autumn Leaves," still one of the ten most-performed jazz standards, with English words by Mercer.And then there's "And the Angels Sing," which I picked up years ago--not off a Benny Goodman recording but a Red Garland trio date on Prestige.

Argh!I've just noticed that this collection is lacking both "I Remember You" and "My Shining Hour," both absolutely essential Mercer lyrics.I'm going to have to downrate it by one star after all--"Autumn Leaves," "Tangerine," "I Remember You," and "My Shining Hour" simply have to be included, even at the expense of four of the tunes in the present collection (I won't attempt to say which ones).All the same, this volume alone permitted me to come up with a Mercer medley that did the lyrical wordsmith as much justice as possible within a narrow time frame.

Ouch!I don't believe it!A selective yet definitive collection of Mercer material--and no "Tangerine," "Autumn Leaves," "I Remember You," "My Shining Hour," and--so obvious that I never even bothered looking for it, no "Moon River"! This started out as a 5-star review, then down to 4, and now regrettably there's no alternative but to lower it by yet another star.I have nothing against "Bob White," "Glow Worm," "I Want to Be Around" (regrettably, listeners appear to have forgotten this minor gem), "Hooray for Hollywood," "I'm an Old Cowhand" (both of these latter two tunes show that, when the occasion called for it, Mercer could be as wittily sardonic as Porter), "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" (especially singled out for praise by Gary Giddins in the Crosby biography), but whoever inserted any of these songs ahead of the first five mentioned above clearly has little understanding of Mercer's most noteworthy accomplishments or of American Popular Song or both.

Might as well be up front: anyone seeking the best, most representative and complete volume of Mercer songs with music plus words will need to pick up "Too Marvelous for Words: The Magic of Johnny Mercer" (also published by Alfred, which frankly amounts to an indictment of the company for falling down on its face with this shorter, more "selective" (not) edition.

[Despite Amazon's qualifier--"allow one or two months' shipping time"--the volume arrived within several days after the order had been placed.]

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Product Description:
Titles include: Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive
* Blues in the Night (My Mama Don' Tol Me)
* Bob White (Watcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)
* Charade
* Come Rain or Come Shine
* Dream
* Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)
* The Glow Worm
* Goody Goody
* Hooray for Hollywood
* I Wanna Be Around
* I'm an Old Cowhand (from the Rio Grande)
* Jeepers Creepers
* Laura
* On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe
* Satin Doll
* Skylark
* Something's Gotta Give
* Summer Wind
* That Old Black Magic
* Too Marvelous for Words
* You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby.

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