I have a lifelong passion for the lyrics of the popular
song & theatre music. I enjoy reading a lyric on the printed page as poetry.
Among the very greatest, a personal favorite, is Ira Gershwin who celebrates
his 116th birthday today.
Ira Gershwin worked with his younger brother, composer
George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th
century: I Got Rhythm, Embraceable You,
The Man I Love, Someone to Watch Over Me, & the score for their opera Porgy & Bess.
The success the brothers had with their collaborations has
often overshadowed the creative role that Ira played. His masterly lyric
writing went on after the early death of George from a brain hemorrhage.
He wrote additional hit songs with composers Jerome Kern,
Kurt Weill & Harold Arlen. Ira Gershwin gave us the words to: But Not For Me, Embraceable You, I Can't Get
Started,I Got Rhythm, The Man I Love, They Can't Take That Away From Me,
Someone to Watch Over Me, 'S Wonderful, The Man That Got Away, Strike Up
the Band, among hundreds of others.
Last year, The Gershwin Prize for Popular Song was
awarded to Burt Bacharach & Hal David by President Barack Obama. The
Library of Congress named its Prize for Popular Song after Ira & his
brother George. Recognizing the profound & positive effect of popular music
on the world's culture, the prize is given annually to a composer or performer
whose lifetime contributions exemplify the standard of excellence associated
with the Gershwins: 2007 - Paul Simon, 2008 - Stevie Wonder, 2009 - Paul
McCartney.
Ira Gershwin’s critically acclaimed book Lyrics On Several Occasions (1959), a
combo of autobiography & annotated anthology, sits in my bookcase along
with books about other songwriters. It is one of my favorites.
For me, Someone To
Watch Over Me is a perfect song. I offer up Linda Ronstadt's & version
with a Nelson Riddle arrangement as my argument:
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