According to some sources he altered some (unspecified) words for English audiences to others, including Sour, he “didn’t add a comma” - merely pulled strings in the English music industry to ease “Body and Soul’s” way onto a recording. As for Frank Eyton, a British lyricist credited on the UK (but not US) copyright with Heyman and Sour, he’s got a shadowy relationship to the known facts of the song’s creation. ![]() (music by Johnny Green lyrics by Robert Sour, Edward Heyman, and Frank Eyton)Īside: The above is an approximation I haven’t been able to track down the actual honest-to-gods lyrics as first written, as distinguished from all the many additions, subtractions, and other spins put on them by singers and bandleaders. (Boston banned broadcasts not only of the song, but even of mention of its title.) And the balance of the lyrics didn’t reassure the censors about the singer’s determination to remain pure: It was that “Body” which triggered pursed lips. (“Yip”) Harburg… How would Harburg approach it, they asked? “We decided that communications-wise, that impact-wise, that feelings-wise, going back to the Harburg ethic in philosophy, that the point could be driven home more clearly by setting up premises and tying them off with a wallop, with that powerful title.”Īll three partners were excited to work with the title, even though they knew it would cause problems. ![]() “‘Where does the title come? Is it going to come at the beginning of the phrase, is it going to come at the end of the phrase? Are you going to say “Body and soul, my life belongs to you body and soul, my days begin and end with you” or is it going to be “So and so and so and so and I belong to you, body and soul” at the end?'” For the answer, Green took inspiration from the future great lyricist E.Y. It was Heyman, at a friend’s suggestion, who came up with the title: “Body and Soul.” One catch: where to use the phrase in the lyrics? Said Green ( according to one source), the conversation among the collaborators went like this: Together, they came up with four songs for Lawrence’s consideration - among them, an unnamed torch song. At about this time, though, she was seeking some new songs to use in her live act and on radio, and turned to her young accompanist - Green - for help.īy then, Green had begun working on his compositions with two lyricists in particular, Edward Heyman and Robert Sour. Lawrence had always had success in stage drama and in stage musicals, both on Broadway and in London’s West End (although she never really caught on in films). ![]() The image presented in the first few paragraphs alone may be burned into my brain for years. But while researching it, I came across a fascinating 2009 article at the Mail (UK) Online site, looking back at Lawrence’s life and career. Indeed, in 1928, at age 19, he’d already co-written (with Gus Kahn and Carmen Lombardo) a hit Broadway song, “ Coquette.” With his father-in-law’s encouragement, Green started to establish working relationships with other musicians in New York.Īnd right about then, in 1929, British actress Gertrude Lawrence sashayed into his life.Īlas, I couldn’t think of a way to crowbar the story into this post. Luckily, he didn’t care much about economics his real interest was in writing music. “Johnny” Green was a Harvard economics graduate working on Wall Street at the cusp of the Great Depression - not a great place to be building a career at that supremely wrong moment of history. And it’s gone on to become, arguably, the single most-recorded pop standard in history.įinding something to say about “Body and Soul” isn’t hard. It’s drenched in self-pity, but was written for and first performed by a woman once dubbed “Hollywood’s first maneater.” One of its most famous covers includes no vocal at all, and barely follows the tune. ![]() By the end, the singer has thrown him- or herself melodramatically, almost operatically on the mercy of a lost love.
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