Posted Sunday, September 16, 2017
A fascinating behind-the-scenes bio of Warner Brothers’ songwriter, Moe Jerome.
From Tin Pan Alley to Tinseltown, from “A Daughter’s Prayer at Twilight” to “Some Sunday Morning”.
“At Warner Bros. from 1929 to 1949, he wrote, not for the masses, but for a film’s producer who wanted a song for a comedy or a western, or a drama or a musical. Take, for example the 1945 film San Antonio, starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith. He and his lyricist partner, Ted Koehler, quickly created a lovely ballad called “Some Sunday Morning.”
“The film was an instant hit. So was “Some Sunday Morning.” It was Flynn and Smith’s romantic theme song. Every time the two appeared on screen, the melody played in the background, courtesy of the film’s composer, Max Steiner. Smith sang it in a large production number set in the local saloon.”
“As early as January 5, 1946, the song made Billboard’s “Honor Roll of Hits,” a list denoting America’s top tunes. It charted at Number 9. Sales of sheet music were also excellent: for 14 weeks, the song was in the top five. And early in 1946, the song was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song.”
Some Sunday Morning”
What initially brought Jerome great fame and success, however, was “Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight”, a song he wrote during World War I – once contemporaneously called “the greatest constructed song ever published.”
“Moe had high hopes for a particular melody he wrote, a kind of lullaby he often hummed when he put his young son to sleep. But he wanted this song to be a statement about the cost of the war, what it did to those left behind.”
“Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight (For My Daddy Over There)”
— Tim
