What were the songs Frank Loesser contributed to THE MUSIC MAN?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/5/05 at 2:15pm

I made comment in an earlier post that Frank Loesser secretly contributed a couple of songs to the score for THE MUSIC MAN. This information is in both of the Frank Loesser biographies, but I can't remember off hand which songs he wrote. Does anyone remember?

I'm pretty sure it was MY WHITE KNIGHT and SADDER GIRL, but I could be wrong...

[robbiej]

Posted: 5/5/05 at 2:18pm

The only one that comes to mind is MY WHITE NIGHT.

[rawleygirl]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 2:05am

"Let's Get Drunk and F**K" -- it was cut out of town.

[wildcat]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 9:25am

He was also rumoured to have written "A New Town is a Blue Town" from PAJAMA GAME.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 9:39am

and coincidentally, those two songs are often cut from productions....

[magruder]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 11:30am

And yet, there's that original version of "My White Knight" that Barbara Cook sings on Barbara Cook Live at Carnegie Hall with these patter sections that sound much more like the work of Meredith Willson. You can hear a clip at the Amazon link below, with all of this added material prior to "All I want is a plain man...."

Amazon.com - Barbara Cook Live at Carnegie Hall

Updated On: 5/8/05 at 11:30 AM

Posted: 5/8/05 at 12:02pm

I haven't found any reference to Loesser lyrics in THE MUSIC MAN. Robert Kimball, in his "Complete Lyrics of..." makes no mention. Stephen Suskin, in "Show Tunes," does say that, "...Frank Loesser, instigator of the project [THE MUSIC MAN] reaped multiple benefits as associate producer, publisher of the score and licensor of rights."

Perhaps Loesser made some snippet of lyrical contributions, but his overall control of the musical might have given birth to the rumor that he contributed full songs to the score.