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Johnny Mercer Quotes

John Herndon Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer. He was also a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessman Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs.He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as songs written by others. From the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s, many of the songs Mercer wrote and performed were among the most popular hits of the time, including "Moon River", "Days of Wine and Roses", "Autumn Leaves", and "Hooray for Hollywood". He wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Oscar nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars. Wikipedia  

✵ 18. November 1909 – 25. June 1976
Johnny Mercer photo
Johnny Mercer: 12   quotes 0   likes

Famous Johnny Mercer Quotes

“I know all the songs that the cowboys know
'bout the big corral where the doggies go,
'Cause I learned them all on the radio.
Yippie yi yo kayah”

Johnny Mercer

Song I'm an old Cowhand

“When my life is through
And the angels ask me to recall
The thrill of them all
Then I shall tell them
I remember you”

Johnny Mercer

Song I Remember You

“So you met someone who set you back on your heels - goody, goody
You met someone and now you know how it feels - goody, goody”

Johnny Mercer

Song Goody, Goody

“Skylark,
Have you seen a valley green with Spring
Where my heart can go a-journeying,
Over the shadows in the rain
To a blossom covered lane?
And in your lonely flight,
Haven't you heard the music in the night,
Wonderful music,
Faint as a will-o-the-wisp,
Crazy as a loon,
Sad as a gypsy serenading the moon.”

Johnny Mercer

Song "Skylark" (1942)

“There's a long goodbye,
and it happens every day,
when a passerby
invites your eye
to come away.
Even as you smile a quick hello
you let her go,
you let the moment fly…
Too late you turn your head,
you know you've said
the Long Goodbye.”

Johnny Mercer

Song "The Long Goodbye" (1973)

“From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe, wherever the four winds blow
I been in some big towns an' heard me some big talk, but there is one thing I know
A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya to sing the blues in the night.”

Johnny Mercer

Song Blues in the Night

Johnny Mercer Quotes

“The days of wine and roses laugh and run away like a child at play
Through the meadow land toward a closing door
A door marked "nevermore" that wasn't there before”

Johnny Mercer

Song The Days of Wine and Roses

Wine

“Cigarette holder,
which wigs me,
over her shoulder
she digs me:
Out cattin'
that Satin Doll.”

Johnny Mercer

Song "Satin Doll" (1953)

“I remember too, a distant bell…
and stars that fell…
like the rain
out of the blue.”

Johnny Mercer

Song "I Remember You" (1941)

Star , Distant

“Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer.
Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer.
Lead us lest too far we wander.
Love's sweet voice is calling yonder.”

Johnny Mercer

Song The Glow-Worm

Love

“[My] publicity agent … went to hear Father Divine and he had a sermon and his subject was 'you got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.' And I said 'Wow, that's a colorful phrase!”

Johnny Mercer

And I said 'Wow, that's a colorful phrase!'

Interviewed 1971 https://findingaids.library.unt.edu/?p=collections/findingaid&id=959&q=&rootcontentid=204947 by [Gilliland, John, Pop Chronicles the 40's: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40's, 978-1-55935-147-8, 31611854] Tape 1, side B.

Quoted by PDF, '40s Sounds Return to Radio, 1972-10-29, Oakland Tribune, Bob, MacKenzie, 2009-04-03, http://web.archive.org/web/20120209175145/http://www.sfradiomuseum.com/audio/ksfo/1972/Trib_Pop-Chronicles-Article-2_1972.pdf, 2012-02-09 http://www.bayarearadio.org/audio/ksfo/1972/Trib_Pop-Chronicles-Article-2_1972.pdf,

Color

“You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative.
Don't mess with mister inbetween.”

Johnny Mercer

Song Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive

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