The song of the day for Saturday, March 29, 2025, is “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road).”
Johnny Mercer
We’re continuing our look at lyricists with one of America’s greatest: John Herndon Mercer. Johnny Mercer was born on November 18, 1909, to a prominent family in Savannah, Georgia. He developed a love of music at a young age. He was meant to matriculate at Princeton University, but the family lost most of their money in the 1929 crash. He moved to New York and started his career as a lyricist; one of his first major collaborations was with Hoagy Carmichael. He moved to Hollywood in 1938 and worked with several notable composers, including Richard Whiting and Harry Warren. He began working with Harold Arlen in the 1940s; their collaborations were quite notable.
Although he continued to write lyrics for many years, he also pursued other interests, notably founding Capital Records in 1941. New studio signed many notable artists, including Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, Peggy Lee, Kay Starr, Mel Torme, and many other artists. Frank Sinatra was the first artist to record at the newly built Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.
Johnny Mercer died in Los Angeles from a brain tumor on June 25, 1976. He is buried at the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah.
About This Song
“One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the 1943 film The Sky’s The Limit, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire. Harold Arlen called this song one of his “tapeworms” as, at 48 bars, it was longer than the standard 32-bar popular song. Alec Wilder, in American Popular Song, says that “the honors must go to the lyric. Just imagine having the acuity and courage to start a song, as Mercer does, with ‘It’s a quarter to three’!
It has been said (though this may be apocryphal) that Mercer wrote the lyric on a cocktail napkin at P. J. Clarke’s when. Tommy Joyce was the bartender. The next day Mercer called Joyce to apologize for the line “So, set ’em up, Joe,” explaining, “I couldn’t get your name to rhyme.”
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” in June 1992 for his album Perfectly Frank. Ralph Sharon wrote the arrangement.
“One For My Baby (And One More For The Road),” as well as Perfectly Frank, is available on Apple Music.
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