- Collection:
- Johnny Mercer Oral History Project
- Title:
- Ervin Drake oral history interview
- Creator:
- Drake, Ervin
- Contributor to Resource:
- Paton, Christopher Ann, 1956-
- Publisher:
- Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 1996-12-13
- Subject:
- Lyricists
Popular music
Composers - People:
- Mercer, Johnny, 1909-1976
- Location:
- United States, 39.76, -98.5
- Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
- Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- application/pdf
audio/mpeg - Description:
- In this interview, which took place on December 13, 1996, the conversation ranges widely over a variety of subjects and time periods. Drake credits Johnny Mercer as one of the important influences on his early career as a songwriter. He discusses Mercer's conversational style of lyric writing, a style that he, Drake, tried to emulate during the 1940s and 1950s. Drake mentions Mercer's generous nature in helping other young songwriters, noting particularly his assistance of songwriters like Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Drake talks about the early seventies, a period in which he got to know Mercer better personally through the meetings of the American Guild of Authors and Composers. Drake mentions Mercer's memorial service in New York in 1976, and he talks briefly about Ginger Mercer and the Johnny Mercer Foundation. The conversation includes short comments about golfing: he reflects both on his own golfing skills and those of other songwriters, particularly Richard Whiting. Drake speaks briefly about several Mercer songs, including "Come Rain or Come Shine" "A Woman's Prerogative" "He Didn't Have the Know How, No How" and "Frasier." "There Are No Restricted Signs in Heaven" "A Room Without Windows" "Know How" and the musical Her First Roman are among the works by Drake that are discussed.
Ervin Drake (b. 1919; New York City) decided to pursue a career as a songwriter after completing a bachelor's degree in social science at CCNY in 1940. Among his early successes were "Tico-Tico" (1942; lyrics), "Perdido" (1944; lyrics), and "The Rickety Rickshaw Man" (1943; lyrics and music). He went on to work in television in a variety of capacities from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. One of his most famous songs during this period was "I Believe" (1952), which was written in collaboration with Jimmy Shirl, Al Stillman, and Irvin Graham. In the 1960s he turned to the musical; his most successful show, What Makes Sammy Run? (1964), ran on Broadway for 540 performances. Late in his career, Drake undertook formal study in composition and orchestration at the Juilliard School of Music, and he served as president of the American Guild of Authors and Composers from 1973 to 1982. - Local Identifier:
- M142_DrakeE
- Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/merceroh/id/60
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/iiif/2/merceroh:60/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to items in this collection is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this digital collection available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. Please see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ for more information.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: M142_DrakeE, Johnny Mercer Oral History Project, Popular Music and Culture Collection, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
- Extent:
- Audio: 00:45:54, Transcript: 26 pages
- Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
