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Sammy Cahn
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Cahn, Sammy (kän), 1913-93, American lyricist, b. New York City as Samuel Cohen. With his first collaborator, Saul Chaplin, he wrote material for vaudeville, and scored his first success (1935) with "Rhythm Is Our Business." He was even more successful with a 1938 version of the Yiddish "Bei Mir Bist du Shoen," which became a number-one hit for the Andrews Sisters. Cahn soon moved to Hollywood, where he collaborated with composer Jule Styne (1942-51) to write songs for 19 movies. He also wrote lyrics for several Broadway musicals, beginning with High Button Shoes (1947). Later collaborating with Jimmy Van Heusen, Cahn often worked with Frank Sinatra. The singer recorded 89 Cahn songs, including "Three Coins in the Fountain" (1954), "All the Way" 1957), "High Hopes" (1959), and "Call Me Irresponsible" (1963), each of which won Cahn an Academy Award. Toward the end of his active career (1974) he starred in a one-man Broadway show featuring his songs.
Bibliography
See his autobiography, I Should Care (1974).
| Quotes By: Sammy Cahn |
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"Love and marriage, love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. Dad was told by mother. You can't have one without the other."
| Artist: Sammy Cahn |
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- Born: June 18, 1913, New York, NY
- Died: January 15, 1993, Los Angeles, CA
- Active: '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s
- Genres: Vocal Music
- Instrument: Songwriter
- Representative Albums: "An Evening with Sammy Cahn," "Songs with Lyrics," "The Songs of Sammy Cahn"
Biography
One of the more diverse American lyricists of the 20th century, Sammy Cahn wrote his first hit by the age of 21 and followed it with over five decades of successful and award-winning compositions. Working most frequently with Jule Styne during the 1940s and Jimmy Van Heusen during the 1950s (though he also composed with Axel Stordahl and Paul Weston), Cahn had a way with lovesick ballads ("I'll Walk Alone," "Only the Lonely") as well as bouncy uptempo songs ("Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," "Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night of the Week").Born on New York's Lower East Side in June 1913, Samuel Cohen was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland. His mother encouraged him to take up the violin, which Cahn used to join a small orchestra which played at bar mitzvahs and other Jewish gatherings. At the age of 16, he began writing songs and later convinced orchestra-mate Saul Chaplin to join him in a partnership. The duo wrote for bands as well as vaudeville, gaining their first hit in 1935 when Jimmie Lunceford's Orchestra recorded "Rhythm Is Our Business." During the next two years, the Cahn and Chaplin team wrote three more big hits, including "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" (sung by Andy Kirk); the Yiddish novelty "Beir Mir Bist Du Schöen" (which became the Andrews Sisters' first million-selling hit); and "Please Be Kind" (popularized by Benny Goodman and Bob Crosby).
When Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin's writing contract with Warner Bros. expired in the early '40s, they decided to split up. Cahn soon found another partner, Jule Styne, the man with whom he wrote his most celebrated hits. Writing film and album songs for Frank Sinatra -- who had gotten to know Cahn during his tenure in the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra -- during the mid-'40s, Cahn and Styne were one of the most successful teams in the business, as a variety of stars gained the upper reaches of the Hit Parade with "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" (Sinatra, Sammy Kaye, Frankie Carle), "I've Heard That Song Before" (Harry James), "I'll Walk Alone" (Doris Day), "It's Been a Long, Long Time" (Bing Crosby, Harry James, Charlie Spivak), "Things We Did Last Summer" (Sinatra), "Five Minutes More" (Sinatra, Tex Beneke, the Three Suns, Bob Crosby) and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" (Vaughn Monroe, Woody Herman, Connee Boswell, Bob Crosby). As well, Cahn and Styne wrote scores for several movies plus the 1947 Broadway musical High Button Shoes.
Though successful, High Button Shoes was Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne's last collaboration for almost a decade. While Styne stayed in New York, Cahn journeyed to Hollywood, recruiting Nicholas Brodszky as his new partner and writing half a dozen film songs for Mario Lanza plus "I'll Never Stop Loving You" for Doris Day. Cahn and Styne began working together again in 1954, and though they were together for only a year, the pair won an Oscar for Sinatra's rendition of the title song from Three Coins in the Fountain as well as writing music for Marilyn Monroe's The Seven Year Itch.
His relationship with Styne was somewhat soured by the mid-'50s, so Sammy Cahn turned to another old friend, Frank Sinatra, to rejuvenate his career. With Jimmy Van Heusen as his songwriting partner, Cahn charted a course for Sinatra with several hits from movies, like "The Tender Trap and two more Oscar winners for Best Song from a Film, "All the Way" and "High Hopes." There were many other Sinatra favorites during the late '50s to early '60s, many used as the title songs to his albums: "Come Fly with Me," "Come Dance with Me," "Only the Lonely," "No One Cares" and "September of My Years." By no means restricted to status as Sinatra's muses, Cahn and Van Heusen also collaborated on Cahn's fourth Oscar award-winning song, "Call Me Irresponsible," plus the score for a TV adaptation of Thornton Wilder's Our Town (whence came another perennial favorite, Love and Marriage") and scores for two Broadway musicals, Skyscraper and Walking Happy.
By the end of the '60s, with enormous success connected to his name, Sammy Cahn returned to work with old partner Styne on a musical score named Look to the Lilies. Cahn entered the 1970s with a new direction: performance. He wrote and starred in a one-man show named Words and Music, which gained him an award not devoid of irony -- Best New Talent on Broadway from the Outer Circle Critics. A year later, he brought the show to England, and remounted the entire spectacle in the 1980s as well. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Sammy Cahn died in Los Angeles on January 15, 1993. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
| Discography: Sammy Cahn |
| Actor: Sammy Cahn |
- Born: Jun 18, 1913 in New York City, New York
- Died: Jan 15, 1993 in California
- Active: '40s-'70s
- Major Genres: Comedy, Musical
- Career Highlights: GoodFellas, A Touch of Class, Pocketful of Miracles
- First Major Screen Credit: Argentine Nights (1940)
Biography
American composer Sammy Cahn was one of the last of the "tin pan alley" school of tunesmiths. After five years of churning out specialty numbers and nightclub material, Cahn wrote his first film score for the 1940 Andrews Sisters/Ritz Brothers vehicle Argentine Nights. Inasmuch as the songs in this picture contained such lyrics as "Amigo we go riding tonight," Cahn had nowhere to go but up. His first big hit, "I've Heard That Song Before," was featured in the B-plus musical Youth on Parade (1942). In 1947's It Happened in Brooklyn, Cahn wrote for Frank Sinatra for the first time. It was a professional "marriage" which would result in one top-ten success after another for Sinatra over the next three decades: "Time After Time," "All the Way," "High Hopes," "The Second Time Around," "Call Me Irresponsible," "My Kind of Town" and many more. While several of these songs were not written with Sinatra in mind ("Call Me Irresponsible" was sung by Jackie Gleason in Papa's Delicate Condition [1963]), it was Ol' Blue Eyes' interpretations that made them famous. Working most often in collaboration with Jule Styne and Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn wrote for both Hollywood and Broadway during his long career: his best remembered theatrical show was Mary Martin's Peter Pan (1953) ("I Gotta Crow," "I'm Flying," etc.). Nominated 30 times for the Academy Award, Cahn took home the gold-plated statuette on four occasions. In his last two decades, Sammy Cahn showed up frequently on TV and in live concerts; an ingratiating ham, Cahn could go on all night and into the next day with his "And then I wrote..." routine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide| Filmography: Sammy Cahn |
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| Wikipedia: Sammy Cahn |
| Sammy Cahn | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Samuel Cohen |
| Born | June 18, 1913 New York City, New York |
| Died | January 15, 1993 (aged 79) Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation(s) | Lyricist |
Sammy Cahn (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993) was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to Tin Pan Alley and Broadway songs, as recorded by Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin. He won the Academy Award four times for his songs, including the popular song "Three Coins in the Fountain".
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Biography
Cahn was born Samuel Cohen in the Lower East Side of New York City, the only son (he had four sisters) of Jewish immigrants from Poland.[1] He was married twice: first to vocalist and former Goldwyn girl Gloria Delson in 1945, with whom he had two children, and later to Virginia (Tita) Basile in 1970. He changed his last name from Cohen to Kahn to avoid confusion with comic and MGM actor Sammy Cohen and again from Kahn to Cahn to avoid confusion with lyricist Gus Kahn.
Much of Cahn's early work was written in partnership with Saul Chaplin. Billed simply as "Cahn and Chaplin" (in the manner of "Rodgers and Hart"), they composed witty special material for Warner Brothers' musical short subjects, filmed at Warners' Vitaphone studio in Brooklyn, New York.
Cahn described the beginnings of his career thus:
Lyric writing has always been a thrilling adventure for me, and something I've done with the kind of ease that only comes with joy! From the beginning the fates have conspired to help my career. Lou Levy, the eminent music publisher, lived around the corner and we met the day I was leaving my first music publisher's office. This led to a partnership that has lasted many years. Lou and I wrote "Rhythm is Our Business," material for Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra, which became my first ASCAP copyright. I'd been churning out "special lyrics" for special occasions for years and this helped facilitate my tremendous speed with lyric writing. Many might have written these lyrics better—but none faster! Glen Gray and Tommy Dorsey became regular customers and through Tommy came the enduring and perhaps most satisfying relationship of my lyric writing career – Frank Sinatra.[2]
Cahn wrote the lyrics to "Love and Marriage," which was used as the theme song for the FOX TV show Married... with Children. The song originally debuted in a 1955 television production of Our Town, and won an Emmy Award in 1956. This was only one of many songs that Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote for Frank Sinatra. They were "almost considered to be his personal songwriters."[3]
Cahn contributed lyrics for two otherwise unrelated films about the Land of Oz, Journey Back to Oz (1971) and The Wizard of Oz (1982). The former were composed with James Van Heusen, the latter with Allen Byrns, Joe Hisaishi, and Yuichiro Oda.
Cahn became a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. He later took over the presidency of that organization from his friend Johnny Mercer when Mercer became ill.[4]
Personal life
Sammy Cahn died in January 15, 1993 at the age of 79 in Los Angeles, California. His remains were interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
His second wife was Virginia (Tita) Curtis, a former fashion coordinator for the clothes designer Donald Brooks. He was the father of Laurie Cahn and jazz/fusion guitarist Steve Khan [3] who had a general dislike for his father, and so changed the spelling of his last name to Khan.
Composer Garrison Hintz exchanged numerous letters with Sammy Cahn regarding musical composition and credits Mr. Cahn with teaching him the craft of lyric writing.
Honors, awards and legacy
Over the course of his career, he was nominated for 23 Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and an Emmy Award. He also received a Grammy Award nomination, with Van Heusen, for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show for the film Robin and the 7 Hoods.
In 1988 the Sammy Awards, an annual award for movie songs and scores, was started in his honor. When notified, Cahn said he was "flattered and honored" that these awards were named after him. He was chosen because he had received more Academy Award nominations than any other songwriter, and also because he received four Oscars for his song lyrics.
In 1993, taking up the sentiments expressed in the song, "High Hopes," the Cahn estate established the "High Hopes Fund" at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. The former Joslin patient and songwriter's goal was to provide hope and encouragement to kids with diabetes while supporting research into the causes of the disease.
Music
He wrote lyrics for many songs, including:
- Academy Award winners
- 1954 – "Three Coins in the Fountain" (music by Jule Styne) introduced by Frank Sinatra in the film Three Coins in the Fountain.
- 1957 – "All the Way" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) introduced by Frank Sinatra in the film The Joker Is Wild.
- 1959 – "High Hopes" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) introduced by Frank Sinatra and Eddie Hodges in the film A Hole in the Head.
- 1963 – "Call Me Irresponsible" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) introduced by Jackie Gleason in the film Papa's Delicate Condition.
- Academy Award nominees
- 1942 – "I've Heard That Song Before" (music by Jule Styne) from the film Youth on Parade.
- 1944 – "I'll Walk Alone" (music by Jule Styne) from the film Follow the Boys.
- 1945 – "Anywhere" (music by Jule Styne) from the film Tonight and Every Night.
- 1945 – "I Fall In Love Too Easily" (music by Jule Styne) introduced by Frank Sinatra in the film Anchors Aweigh.
- 1948 – "It's Magic" (music by Jule Styne) introduced by Doris Day in the film Romance on the High Seas.
- 1949 – "It's a Great Feeling" (music by Jule Styne) introduced by Doris Day in the film It's a Great Feeling.
- 1950 – "Be My Love" (music by Nicholas Brodszky) introduced by Mario Lanza and Kathryn Grayson in the film The Toast of New Orleans.
- 1951 – "Wonder Why" (music by Nicholas Brodszky) introduced by Jane Powell and Vic Damone in the film Rich, Young and Pretty.
- 1952 – "Because You're Mine" (music by Nicholas Brodszky) introduced by Mario Lanza in the film Because You're Mine.
- 1955 – "I'll Never Stop Loving You" (music by Nicholas Brodszky) introduced by Doris Day in the film Love Me or Leave Me.
- 1955 – "(Love Is) The Tender Trap" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) introduced by Frank Sinatra in the film The Tender Trap.
- 1957 – "Written on the Wind" (music by Victor Young) for the film Written on the Wind.
- 1959 – "To Love and Be Loved" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) for the film Some Came Running.
- 1960 – "The Best of Everything" (music by Alfred Newman) for the film The Best of Everything.
- 1961 – "The Second Time Around" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) for the film High Time.
- 1962 – "Pocketful of Miracles" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) for the film Pocketful of Miracles.
- 1965 – "Where Love Has Gone" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) for the film Where Love Has Gone. (Also Golden Globe nominee)
- 1965 – "My Kind of Town" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) for the film Robin and the 7 Hoods.
- 1968 – "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) for the film Thoroughly Modern Millie. (Also Golden Globe nominee)
- 1969 – "Star" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen) for the film Star!. (Also Golden Globe nominee)
- 1974 – "All That Love Went to Waste" (music by George Barrie) for the film A Touch of Class. (Also Golden Globe nominee)
- 1974 – "Now That We're In Love" (music by George Barrie) for the film Whiffs. (Also Golden Globe nominee)
- Other well-known songs
- "Bei Mir Bist du Schoen" (English version, with Saul Chaplin)
- " The Christmas Waltz" (with Jule Styne)
- "Come Dance with Me" (with Jimmy Van Heusen)
- "Come Fly with Me" (with Jimmy Van Heusen)
- "Day By Day" (with Paul Weston and Axel Stordahl)
- "Five Minutes More" (with Jule Styne)
- "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" (with Jule Styne)
- "I'll Never Stop Loving You" (with Nicholas Brodzsky)
- "I Should Care" (with Paul Weston and Axel Stordahl)
- "I Still Get Jealous" (with Jule Styne)
- "It's Been A Long, Long Time" (with Jule Styne)
- "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" (with Jule Styne)
- "Love and Marriage" (with Jimmy Van Heusen)
- "Papa, Won't You Dance With Me" (with Jule Styne)
- "Please Be Kind" (with Saul Chaplin)
- "Rhythm Is Our Business" (with Saul Chaplin)
- "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" (with Jule Styne)
- "Teach Me Tonight" (with Gene DePaul)
- "The Things We Did Last Summer" (with Jule Styne)
- "The Secret of Christmas" (with Jimmy Van Heusen)
- "Time After Time" (with Jule Styne)
- "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" (with Saul Chaplin)
- "You're a Lucky Guy" (with Saul Chaplin)
Stage
Cahn wrote the lyrics for the following Broadway musicals:
- 1947 – High Button Shoes music by Jule Styne
- 1965 – Skyscraper music by Jimmy Van Heusen
- 1966 – Walking Happy music by James Van Heusen
- 1970 – Look To The Lilies music by Jule Styne
References
- ^ Bloom, Nate (2006-12-19). "The Jews Who Wrote Christmas Songs". InterfaithFamily. http://www.interfaithfamily.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ekLSK5MLIrG&b=297399&ct=3303147. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
- ^ Sammy Cahn Songbook. Warner Bros. Publications Inc.. 1986. ASIN B000EA1TTW.
- ^ a b Holden, Stephen."Sammy Cahn, Word Weaver Of Tin Pan Alley, Dies at 79",The New York Times, January 16, 1993
- ^ "Songwriters Hall of Fame". http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_bio.asp?exhibitId=5.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Learn More
 | It's Magic: Capitol Sings Sammy Cahn [Capitol] (1995 Album by Various Artists) |
| Sings the Select Sammy Cahn (1996 Album by Frank Sinatra) |
| Sings the Songs of Van Heusen & Cahn (1991 Album by Frank Sinatra) |
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 | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Quotes By. Copyright © 2008 QuotationsBook.com. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sammy Cahn". Read more |
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Mentioned in
- It's Magic: Capitol Sings Sammy Cahn [Capitol] (1995 Album by Various Artists)
- Sings the Select Sammy Cahn (1996 Album by Frank Sinatra)
- Sings the Songs of Van Heusen & Cahn (1991 Album by Frank Sinatra)
- Because of You (1998 Album by Preservation Hall Jazz Band)
- Plains (1999 Album by George Winston)
- Say Wonderful Things/Love After Midnight (2003 Album by Patti Page)
- Nobody Sees Me Cry: The Best of the Columbia Years (2001 Album by Diahann Carroll)
- The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1933 Musical Film)
- Tell It to a Star (1945 Musical Film)
- High Button Shoes (American Theater)
- Saul Chaplin (Vocal Music Artist)
- Jeff Harnar (Vocal Music Artist, '90s, 2000s)
- Ring-a-Ding Ding! (1960 Album by Frank Sinatra)
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