Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

MERRILL, Bob

(b Henry Levan, 17 May 1921, Atlantic City NJ; d 17 February 1998, suicide after a long illness) Songwriter who wrote some of the most irritating pop songs of all time. Obituaries said he was born in 1923. He was a dialogue director in Hollywood, then in casting in early TV, then discovered a talent for nonsense: 'If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked A Cake' drove people nuts in 1950 (of several hit versions the biggest was Eileen Barton's); Guy Lombardo's 'The Chicken Song (I Ain't Gonna Take It Settin' Down)' only reached no. 22 in Billboard '51, but a lot of people quit listening to the radio when Patti Page's 'Doggie In The Window' was no. 1 for eight weeks '53. Mitch Miller at Columbia found Merrill's work useful; jolly pseudo-folk jingles were up his alley, and Frank Sinatra refused to record them, so Al Cernick became famous as Guy Mitchell with Merrill's 'Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania', 'Belle, Belle (My Liberty Belle)', 'My Truly, Truly Fair', 'Sparrow In The Treetop' and 'Feet Up (Pat Him On The Po-Po)', all hits '51-2; Rosemary Clooney was cursed with 'Mambo Italiano', and Merrill fitted a traditional tune with nonsense words for a Percy Faith B-side called 'Ching-Ching-A-Ling'. On another label, 'Honeycomb' was big for Jimmie Rodgers '57.

With Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter etc either dead or in retirement, Merrill took his jingles to Broadway and did more grownup work. New Girl In Town '57 was a musical comedy based on a Eugene O'Neill story about a prostitute recovering from tuberculosis, but the laughs didn't keep it going long enough; Take Me Along '59 was another O'Neill story and also lost money; Carnival '61 was an adaptation of hit film Lili and at least repaid its investment; Henry, Sweet Henry '67 was based on the novel/film The World Of Henry Orient and flopped. He was more successful writing lyrics with a real composer; he worked with Jule Styne on Funny Girl '64 and Sugar '72 (based on film Some Like It Hot): the former could not miss, with Barbra Streisand playing Fanny Brice and singing 'People' (a song you either love or hate), and the latter also turned a profit. The most recent show was Hannah ... 1939 c'89, a workshop production starring Julie Wilson as a Jewish designer in Prague. But it was all too late; the baby boomers who'd had their po-pos wiped while Mom sang 'Feet Up' had long since exacted their revenge by turning to rock'n'roll.

Merrill was one of the most successful songwriters of all time on the USA and UK singles charts. Ben Yagoda's book The B-Side (2015) tells the story of the changes in pop music that were taking place in the 1950s, and is a lot of fun to read.