Sondheim's "Songs I wish I'd Written"

[musicalkid]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 7:37pm

Here's a very old (yet charming) article by Sondheim.
This may have been posted here before, but i recently read a remark here about this article, and the fact it cannot be found anywhere, so here it is. enjoy.

SONGS I WISH I'D WRITTEN
(AT LEAST IN PART)
By Stephen Sondheim

Sondheim compiled this list, organized by composer, of art songs, Hollywood standards and show tunes for a Library of Congress concert in his honor on May 22. Among the particularly Sondheimesque choices are those from Kelly, We Take the Town and The Yearling, all big-time theatrical fiascoes.

Ager, Milton
Hard Hearted Hannah, the Vamp of Savannah (1924),
lyrics by Jack Yellen, Bob Bigelow, Charles Bates.

Arlen, Harold
Blues in the Night, from Blues in the Night (film, 1941), lyrics by Johnny Mercer;
Buds Won't Bud, from Hooray for What! (1937), lyrics by E.Y. Harburg;
The Eagle and Me, from Bloomer Girl (1944), lyrics by E.Y. Harburg;
I Had Myself a True Love, from St. Louis Woman (1946), lyrics by Johnny Mercer;
I Wonder What Became of Me, from St. Louis Woman (1946), lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

Berlin, Irving
Let's Face the Music and Dance, from Follow the Fleet (film, 1936);
I Got Lost in His Arms, from Annie Get Your Gun (1946);
You Can't Get a Man With a Gun, from Annie Get Your Gun (1946).

Bernstein, Leonard
Glitter and Be Gay, from Candide (1956), lyrics by Richard Wilbur.

Bock, Jerry
Ice Cream, from She Loves Me (1963), lyrics by Sheldon Harnick;
Tell Me I Look Nice, cut from She Loves Me (1963), lyrics by Sheldon Harnick;
When Did I Fall in Love, from Fiorello! (1959), lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.

Burke, Johnny
Sad Was the Day, from Donnybrook! (1961).

Charlap, Moose
I'll Never Go There Anymore, from Kelly (1965), lyrics by Eddie Lawrence.

Coleman, Cy
The Best Is Yet to Come (1959), lyrics by Carolyn Leigh;
The Other Side of the Tracks, from Little Me (1962) lyrics by Carolyn Leigh;
Real Live Girl, from Little Me (1962), lyrics by Carolyn Leigh;
The Rules of the Road (1961), lyrics by Carolyn Leigh;
When in Rome (I Do as the Romans Do) (1964), lyrics by Carolyn Leigh.

Copland, Aaron
(adapted by) Golden Willow Tree, from Old American Songs, Second Set (1954).

Gallet, Luciano
(arranged by) Bambalal (Song of the Northern Interior) (Pernambuco).

Gershwin, George
My Man's Gone Now, from Porgy and Bess (1935), lyrics by DuBose Heyward.

Guettel, Adam
The Riddle Song, from Floyd Collins (1994).

Henderson, Ray
Birth of the Blues, from George White's Scandals 1926, lyrics by B.G. DeSylva and Lew Brown. Jones, Peter Bluellow, from Peyton Place (1994).
Jurmann, Walter and Kaper, Bronislau
San Francisco, from San Francisco (film, 1936), lyrics by Gus Kahn. Kander, John Home, from 70, Girls, 70 (1971), lyrics by Fred Ebb.

Karr, Harold
Silverware, from We Take the Town (1962), lyrics by Matt Dubey.

Kern, Jerome
I Am So Eager, from Music in the Air (1932), lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II;
The Song Is You, from Music in the Air (1932), lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Kleban, Edward
Better (1973).
Leonard, Michael
I'm All Smiles, from The Yearling (1965), lyrics by Herbert Martin.

Loesser, Frank
Make a Miracle, from Where's Charley? (194.

Martin, Hugh
Ev'ry Time, from Best Foot Forward (1941), with Ralph Blane;
Gotta Dance, from Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'! (194;
I Wanna Be Good 'n' Bad, from Make a Wish! (1951);
The Trolley Song, from Meet Me in St. Louis (film, 1944), with Ralph Blane.

Merrill, Bob
On the Farm, from New Girl in Town (1957).

Montsalvatge, Xavier
Cancion de Cuna Para Dormir a un Negrito (Cradle Song for a Little Black Boy), from Cinco Canciones Negras (195, lyrics by Ildefonso Pereda Valdes.

Muir, Lewis F.
Waiting for the Robert E. Lee (1912), lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert.

Porter, Cole
Every Time We Say Goodbye, from Seven Lively Arts (1944);
Let's Be Buddies, from Panama Hattie (1940);
Let's Not Talk About Love, from Let's Face It (1941).

Rodgers, Richard
What's the Use of Wond'rin', from Carousel (1945), lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II;
Why Can't I, from Spring Is Here (1929), lyrics by Lorenz Hart.

Roy, William
Charm, from Maggie (1953);
What Every Woman Knows, from Maggie (1953).

Schwartz, Arthur
By Myself, from Between the Devil (1937), lyrics by Howard Dietz;
He Had Refinement, from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951), lyrics by Dorothy Fields;
There's No Holding Me, from Park Avenue (1946), lyrics by Ira Gershwin.

Shire, David
Travel, originally written for Cyrano, known from Starting Here, Starting Now (1977), lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.

Strouse, Charles
You've Got Possibilities, from It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman (1966), lyrics by Lee Adams.

Styne, Jule
When the Weather's Better, from Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

Yeston, Maury
New Words, from History Loves Company (1989).

Updated On: 2/18/09 at 07:37 PM

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 9:09pm

I love this. :)

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 10:13pm

Wasn't that concert supposed to have been recorded and released? What ever happened to it?

[Timmer]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 11:02pm

You'd figure there would be more Hammerstein, since Osar was Sondheim's mentor.

I noticed there was no Lerner and Lowe, only one song from Loesser, no Jerry Herman, and none or very little of several otehr leading Broadway composers.

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 11:08pm

Isn't there a tiff between Herman and Sondheim?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 11:31pm

I wish Sondheim had written "Better" as well. It's a very Sondheim song. It's bizarre coming from Edward Kleban who we really only know as a lyricist. Well, aside from A Class Act which is how most of us know the song in the first place. I just think if Sondheim had written it the lyric would have gone "I've been out, I've been in -- OUT is better!" Updated On: 2/18/09 at 11:31 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 2/19/09 at 12:40am

"Isn't there a tiff between Herman and Sondheim?"

I don't know what Steve thinks, but Jerry has said he is a Sondheim devotee and that there is no tiff between himself and Mr. Sondheim.

"I noticed there was no Lerner and Lowe, only one song from Loesser, no Jerry Herman, and none or very little of several otehr leading Broadway composers."

Sondheim is an ardent Loesser and Kander and Ebb admirer. He may have only chosen one song from each, but he likes both very much.

"You'd figure there would be more Hammerstein, since Osar was Sondheim's mentor."

Recently, he's spoken a lot about what he doesn't like about Oscar's work, particularly South Pacific, and its fascinating.

"I just think if Sondheim had written it the lyric would have gone "I've been out, I've been in -- OUT is better!""

I'm not all too sure about that. Maybe. It would ruin the rhyme.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 2/19/09 at 10:34am

Get Mr. Sondheim to tell you "the 'King and I' story" someday if you ever run into him at a party. For all I know, it's a bunch of ****, but it made me more concerned about copyright than I was before I heard it. Maybe it's why he doesn't mention Hammerstein...he's holding a grudge.

Updated On: 2/19/09 at 10:34 AM

[Brick]

Posted: 2/19/09 at 11:22am

The "At Least In Part" is a very important part of the list's title, as he acknowledged are the complexities it implies.

[jv92]

Posted: 2/19/09 at 12:23pm

What's The King and I story?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/19/09 at 12:41pm

What an odd list. Silverware from We Take the Town? Really?? Obviously, he's a Carolyn Leigh fun, but Real Live Girl? Huh.

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 2/19/09 at 10:24pm

I second on "What's The King and I story?"



and jv92 I thought there was something about Herman insulting Sondheim at the Tony's one year? That's where I got that.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 2/19/09 at 10:56pm

Okay, well you asked for the story. I'm not sure if I buy it myself, or if he was just making it up to prove a point. The gist of it is, in his days working under Hammerstein's mentoring, he wrote a show based on the story of Anna Leonowens and her experiences with the Royal Family of Siam. Said subject matter (and some of his material) apparently became what we know as "Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'The King and I'," and from said experience he learned not to take copyright lightly, and to do it at every stage of a project, etc.

[jv92]

Posted: 2/19/09 at 11:03pm

But supposedly The King and I is his second favorite R&H show.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 2/19/09 at 11:18pm

Well, don't look at me. I'm not an expert, I just know the story he told.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 5:41am

Sondheim has said that he could easily have done a list with 100 songs or more still. Part of his aim in this particular list was to call attention to some little-known songs, and I think he also wanted to include some songs that no would have expected him to pick (and songs like "Hard-Hearted Hannah" and "San Francisco" almost do count as little-known nowadays).

The Sondheim 70th-birthday concert at the Library of Congress included 13 of the songs (see link for the program). There was talk that the entire concert would be recreated in the studio for commercial issue, but that didn't happen. The Frogs section of the concert was, of course, commercially recorded, but the rest of it wasn't. It was, however, broadcast on public radio. Only two of the Frogs numbers were broadcast, but all of the Songs I Wish I'd Written section was broadcast.

http://www.sondheimguide.com/concerts2.html#Library