He had his thumb on his lower lip, just kneading the lip and listening. He heard all the songs, every song, and then he looked at me and nodded. He’s not too demonstrative and it was the most incredible experience. “Our Town” went on the air in Los Angeles at 6pm, to be shown in New York simultaneously at 9pm, and it was a 90 minute broadcast, live, with Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra. Nelson was a block away, watching the monitor and conducting. Sinatra was singing for the angels that night, he has never sung better in his life – (Sings)
“Love and marriage,
Love and marriage”.
He was just incredible, and I won an Emmy for that song.
You got your first Oscar with a song that was performed by Sinatra, “Three Coins In The Fountain”. Did you write the song around the script?
Not at all. I never saw the film and I never read the script. Someone came to see me and he said, “Three girls go to Rome and they throw coins in a fountain”, and then he left. We wrote the song from that. I won’t tell you the rest of the story as you’ll see it on stage and it’s really, really funny.
Well, it’s not Christmas so “The Christmas Waltz” won’t be in your show. What’s the story behind that?
Jule Styne used to limber up with two songs, a Viennese waltz and a tango. He said to me one day, “Frank wants a Christmas song.” I said, “A Christmas song after ‘White Christmas’. What’s the point? We’re not writing a Christmas song.” He said, “Frank WANTS a Christmas song.” I said, “Slow down that Viennese waltz” and then we had (Sings)
“It’s that time of year
When the world falls in love”
So “The Vienna Waltz” became “The Christmas Waltz”. Around Christmastime, I’ll put it back into the show.
I was intrigued by what you said about “booze” and “views” in “Come Fly With Me”, and Sinatra often sings different words on stage. I’ve heard several different sets of lyrics for “The Lady Is A Tramp”.
When he came to London to play the Royal Albert Hall in 1980, he asked me to write him some new lyrics to Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It”, as I had previously done some for Las Vegas. He called me and said, “Sam, you did some lyrics for Vegas. Could you change them for London?” I said, “Sure. When do you want them?” He said, “Now.” I said, “Why didn’t you call me from the stage?”
I picked the phone and called Jackie Collins, who lives in Beverly Hills, and I said, “Jackie, I need some information about England.” She gave me some information and some names and I put them into the lyric, and it was incredibly well received. I have a cassette of it and I will give it to you. (Sammy goes into his bedroom, looks in a suitcase and comes out with a cassette, which he gives to me. As he gives me the tape he starts to sing.)
“Birds do it, bees do it,
History proves a few MPs do it,
Let’s do it ,let’s fall in love.
And likewise,
Lords do it, earls do it,
Boys with boys and girls with girls do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
“And Margaret Thatcher I hear does it
And the Prime’s in her prime,
With cool veneer does it
When does she find the time?”
I included some TV personalities and also had Mrs Whitehouse in there.
It must also have been remarkable that he learnt the song especially for the occasion.
Well, he knows “Let’s Do It” of course, but he didn’t learn the new lyrics. It didn’t even start the way I had intended. (Sings)
“Let’s fall in love,
Why shouldn’t we fall in love,
People are doing it all of the time
And it’s easy to rhyme…”
And then…
“And it’s easy to rhyme,
Ba-ba-ba-ba,
And that’s why,
Birds do it, bees do it…”
He pulled the paper out of his pocket and he did it cold, but it didn’t matter. When he hears the laughter coming at him, he is stunned because he didn’t know who Mrs Whitehouse was. He sings, “And Mrs Whitehouse alone does it”, and it gets a roar and you’ll hear his reaction. It’s fascinating. (It certainly is.)
What’s on the other side of this cassette?
Frank called me one time and said, “Ringo Starr’s getting married and his bride is my No l fan and is also having her birthday, and I want you to write something that I could sing to her.” So I wrote special lyrics for Ringo’s bride, Maureen. This is Sinatra singing to her, with special lyrics by me. (Plays cassette and Sinatra sings, missing a couple of notes. “It was early the morning and Sinatra was a little tired,” says Sammy. No matter, it’s great.)
“There’s no one like her,
But no one at all,
And as for charm,
Hers is like wall to wall.
She married Ringo
And she could have had Paul,
That’s why the lady is a champ.
“Creates excitement
Whenever it’s dull,
She just appears
And there goes the lull.
She merely smiles
And you’re out of your skull,
That’s why the lady is a champ.
“The folks who do and don’t meditate
Agree she’s great,
They mean
Maureen,
I’ve got more lyrics right after this vamp,
Because the lady is a champ.
“Though we’ve not met
I’m convinced she’s a gem,
I’m just F S
But to me she’s Big M,
Mainly because she prefers to me to them,
That’s why the lady is a champ.
“I’ve lots of fans, well, at least one or two,
But Peter Brown called me to tell me it’s true,
She sleeps with Ringo but she thinks of you,
That’s why the lady is a champ.
“But I can boast, boast as much,
As much as I please,
The fact is that she’s
His wife,
But that’s life,
But it’s her day so I whistle and stamp,
Because the lady, the charming lady, Mr Ringo’s lady, is a champ.”
“May I toast you all the way
Lift my glass and softly say
I have thoughts for you this day
But beautiful.
Thoughts for you and for your Ringo
That I must express
With the warm and deep affection of F S.
Would you kindly ask the guys
If they’d grab a glass and rise
’Cause I think we’d harmonise
But beautiful.
May your birthdays and birthday candles
Softly gleam and glow
For that would be
But beautiful I know.”
They were just thrilled. This is what I do most of the time now, special lyrics for special occasions.
Did you write those new words for Frank’s version of “Mrs Robinson”?
Yes, I did “You’ll get yours, Mrs Robinson” and all that. Jilly is Frank’s friend and Jilly’s bar was a swinging place in New York City on 52nd Street.
Did Paul Simon mind?
Well, I didn’t do it to be disrespectful. I really admire the Beatles and Jimmy Webb and Paul Simon. A lot of bad songs were written in the 30s and 40s – a lot of “moon and June” mush, and these are good songwriters. I love “Everybody’s Talkin’” but Fred Neil could have improved it. “Going where the weather suits my clothes” is okay but “climate” would be better. You get the alliteration with “clothes” and it sings better too.
Do any other “special lyrics for special occasions” spring to mind?
Yes. Many years ago Frank Sinatra was going to do a special television programme with Ethel Barrymore, the legendary Ethel Barrymore. She had an incredible face, and Sinatra’s face and hers would look great together. I said, “It would be marvellous if you sang ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face’, so why don’t you call Alan Jay Lerner and ask him to write a special lyric for you.” He called Alan and he said, “C’mon, Frank, don’t bother me with this. Let Sammy do a special lyric for you.” So that’s what I did and I rather like: (Sings)
“You’re all the lovely things I’ve known
And that is why I’ve grown
Accustomed to your face.”
Frank can call me any time, day or night, and I’ll do special lyrics for him.
What was your last job?
Ah, that was in Washington DC and we were at the Ford Theatre to honour Mrs Reagan. Don Johnson came out and said, “Mrs Reagan, we’re here to honour you, and we want to honour you with a special song, and when you want a special song, you call Mr Sammy Cahn.” I came on stage and he continued, “And when you have a special song, you need a special dancing partner, and here is Mr Mikhail Baryshnikov.” He then came on stage and he walked into the audience. He took her from Mr Reagan, “With your permission, sir”, and brought her onto the stage and I sang,
“Pardon him please,
If he feels ill at ease,
With a real live girl.
Nancy by name
With the First Lady’s fame,
And a real live girl.
Grand ballerinas as you might suppose,
He understands when they’re up on their toes,
But here tonight
He is awed by the sight
And the glow that you feel
With a real live girl.”
Then I turned to Don Johnson and I sang,
“Baryshnikov
Can be shy as a dove
With a real live girl,
He won’t amaze
With those wild tourjetés
With a real live girl.
And Mrs Reagan is floating on air,
He thinks she’s Ginger
And he’s Fred Astaire,
But here tonight he is awed by the sight
And the glow that you feel
From a real live girl.”
The two of us joined her and they handed her the Ford Theatre Award which was a beautiful gold plaque. It was a lovely, lovely evening and that is why more than anything else, I write special lyrics for special occasions. I went to Washington when they wanted money for the restoration of the Blair Home for the visiting dignatories. It was $10,000 a couple for the evening. You had a reception at the White House and you went to the State Department with George Schultz and I sang these special lyrics,
“You know Blair’s been standing there,
A hundred years or more,
It’s been a long, long time.”
To see President Reagan and George Schultz singing the song at my command is a very, very rewarding experience for me.
I’ve read somewhere that you wrote a special lyric to honour Cary Grant.
Ah yes, that was at the Friars Club in New York City. There are very few songs that are written for men to sing about men. The only love song from a man to a man is “My Buddy” where one soldier has lost his buddy. (Sings)
“Days are long since you went away,
I think about you all through the day,
My buddy.
My buddy, nobody quite like you.”
It’s a love song from a man to a man. At the Friars Club, I said, “There is only one song that fits this gentleman and it’s written about a girl”, but he’ll forgive me the change,
“The most beautiful man in the world
Isn’t me, no,
Isn’t Dino,
But as we know
It’s the man that we honour tonight.
The most talented man in the world
Not John Gielgud
Though he’s real good
Would he feel good
With a Friar to his left and a Friar to his right.
Cary stands alone,
Nicest man we’ve known,
And that great physique
You would have to say is most unique.
The most beautiful man in the world
Counting tall men,
Counting small men,
Counting all men
Counting men with a talent they cannot supplant
Is the one and only wonderful Cary Grant.”
You mentioned Dean Martin in that special lyric and I presume he lends himself to parody because of his stage image.
Yes, I wrote lots of funny one-liners for him.
“The girl that I marry
Will have to be
A nympho who owns a distillery.”
“You made me love you,
You woke me up to do it.”
“I didn’t know what time it was,
I drank my watch.”
“Kiss me once and kiss me twice
And kiss me once again,
It takes a long, long time.”
“I looked under Jordan and what did I see?
Mrs Jordan.”
Funny thing about his drinking, that drinking is a crutch. Dean is not a heavy drinker, but he would come on stage and he would down a glass of apple juice and the audience would go, “Look what he’s doing.” It was to give the impression that he was loose and free. He has had more hits than Sinatra and his list of hits is incredibly important. (Sings)
“Return to me,
Oh my darling, I love you,
Hurry back, hurry back.”
Wonderful songs! When he sings, he’s doing Bing Crosby, and Perry Como is also doing Bing Crosby. Vic Damone is doing Frank Sinatra, but Dean Martin is doing Bing Crosby when he sings and Cary Grant when he acts. (Laughs)
One of the songs that you wrote for Sinatra is “All The Way”, and that was for a film about the nightclub comic, Joe E Lewis.
That song was written for a film with the working title of “The Joker Is Wild”, and I said to Jimmy Van Heusen, “They’ll never call a film, ‘The Joker Is Wild’, it sounds too much like a poker game. Let’s think of a song that they can use for the title instead.” We came up with “All The Way”, which was to establish a big, dramatic point. When Joe E Lewis was young, he was a singer (Sings)
“When somebody loves you,
It’s no good unless he loves you…”
Big notes…
“All the way.”
Later in the film the boy’s in Chicago and the hoodlums cut his throat and leave him to die. He recovers and he tries to sing again but this time it’s like this,
“When somebody loves you,
It’s no good unless he loves you…”
And he can’t do those big notes. He realises that he is never going to hit those notes again and he becomes a singing comedian. That’s the power of that song, it was written for dramatic effect. They still called the film, “The Joker Is Wild”, though.