DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. I am David Bianculli. Right now, we’ll bear in mind lyricist Alan Bergman, half of the long-running songwriting duo together with his spouse Marilyn Bergman. Here is a sampling of a few of their songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE WAY WE WERE”)
BARBRA STREISAND: (Singing) Reminiscences gentle the corners of my thoughts. Misty watercolor reminiscences of the best way we had been.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THAT FACE”)
FRED ASTAIRE: (Singing) That face, that face, that fantastic face, it shines. It glows in every single place.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?”)
JOHNNY MATHIS: (Singing) What are you doing the remainder of your life? North and south and east and west of your life. I’ve just one request of your life, that you simply spend all of it with me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NICE ‘N’ EASY”)
FRANK SINATRA: (Singing) Let’s take it good and simple. It’ll be really easy for us to fall in love.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “YOU MUST BELIEVE IN SPRING”)
TONY BENNETT: (Singing) When lonely emotions chill the meadows of your thoughts, simply assume – if winter comes, can spring be far behind? Beneath the deepest snows, the key of a rose is merely that it is aware of you have to consider in spring.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SUMMER WISHES, WINTER DREAMS”)
ABBEY LINCOLN: (Singing) Summer time needs, winter goals, drifting down forgotten streams.
BIANCULLI: Songs by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Alan Bergman died final week on the age of 99. His spouse Marilyn died in 2022. Their songs gained Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes and had been popularized by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Fred Astaire and Barbra Streisand, simply to call a couple of. The Bergmans additionally wrote the phrases to the TV theme songs for the sitcoms “Maude,” “Alice” and “Good Instances.” The couple collaborated on songs for greater than 60 years.
We’ll hear again to a few of Terry’s 2007 interview with Alan and Marilyn Bergman. On the time, Alan Bergman had launched a CD of him singing a lot of their songs. The couple met via composer Lew Spence. The three of them collaborated on a music that was written for Frank Sinatra. It turned the title observe of an album he launched in 1960.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NICE ‘N’ EASY”)
SINATRA: (Singing) Let’s take it good and simple. It’ll be really easy for us to fall in love. Hey, child. What’s your hurry? Loosen up. Do not you are worried. We’ll fall in love. We’re on the highway to romance. That is protected to say, however let’s make all of the stops alongside the best way. The issue now, after all, is to easily maintain your horses. To hurry can be a criminal offense ‘trigger good and simple does it each time.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
TERRY GROSS: How did you provide you with the phrase good and simple, which turned the title of the music and Sinatra’s album?
ALAN BERGMAN: Yeah. Properly, if you write for any person like Frank Sinatra, who has a particular character, you attempt to write – it is easy to write down a custom-made swimsuit for him, you already know. He is very theatrical. He has a particular character. And we felt, as a result of they needed one thing that was simple swinging, that good and simple – the phrase, that good and simple does it each time can be good for him.
MARILYN BERGMAN: It additionally had a form of subtext to be a little bit attractive, which definitely additionally was a part of Sinatra.
GROSS: That is a type of many songs about intercourse that is not actually about intercourse, however it’s completely about intercourse.
(LAUGHTER)
M BERGMAN: Sure, it’s.
(LAUGHTER)
M BERGMAN: Sure, it’s.
GROSS: Did he ever ask – did Sinatra ever ask you to write down for him after having such success with this music?
A BERGMAN: Sure (laughter). Sure, he did, a number of occasions. There was one time we acquired a name from him that stated, I need you to write down me a 10-minute quantity. And we stated, about what? He stated, nicely, you already know, boy meets woman. Boy will get woman. Boy loses woman and so forth. And we stated to him, nicely, that is actually been written. He stated, you may determine it out. He used to name us the youngsters, and he stated, you youngsters, you may determine it out. And he stated, get Michel Legrand to be the composer. And Michel’s father was very sick on the time, and Michel could not do it. So we known as him and stated, is John Williams OK? It was Johnny Williams. It was – he was not the, you already know, well-known conductor-composer then. And we stated, John, would you want to do that? And he stated, yeah, let’s do it.
M BERGMAN: So we wrote a 10-minute piece, which by the way he needed for his nightclub act. So we wrote a chunk that talked about the truth that the protagonist of the piece – on this case, the singer – fell in love with the identical girl time and again and over. I do not imply actually the identical girl, however, you already know, the identical girl. And every love affair ended badly. And I believe I bear in mind the phrase, the identical howdy, the identical goodbye. And after we completed it, we known as him and advised him that we had completed it, and he requested us if we’d come all the way down to Palm Springs, the place he had a house and play it for him.
M BERGMAN: So the three of us drove all the way down to Palm Springs, and we bought to his – I began to say home, however extra like a compound, really. And he opened the door himself after we lastly made our solution to the home. And Alan sang the music for him. Alan, what was that have? You inform it.
A BERGMAN: Properly, he was sitting on an ottoman in entrance of me, and I sang for 10 minutes. You already know, that is a very long time. Once I was completed, he was crying. And he stated to Marilyn, how have you learnt a lot about me? As if his life was such…
M BERGMAN: Such a closed guide.
A BERGMAN: Such a closed guide, you already know? However it should have hit some nerve. And he stated, I’ve to study this. That is terrific. I adore it. And – however he by no means discovered it.
M BERGMAN: Each time we’d see him…
A BERGMAN: Sure.
M BERGMAN: …He would say, I am going to try this. I am going to try this.
A BERGMAN: Children, I am going to try this. Do not – you already know.
M BERGMAN: However he by no means did.
A BERGMAN: He by no means.
M BERGMAN: However it was a really good expertise, I have to say.
A BERGMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: Now, you’ve got written a number of songs for films. A few of your best-known songs are songs you wrote for films. You have not written that a lot for theater. How did you gravitate to writing songs for films?
M BERGMAN: I believe perhaps films made a deeper impression rising up, and we all the time knew that we needed to write down in a dramatic context. We had been extra all in favour of that than we had been in simply writing songs in limbo. Writing for – in a story or dramatic context, after we had been honing craft, you may’t write for an image until any person hires you, you already know? So it is like an actor not having the ability to act until he will get a job or she will get a job. So we’d do workouts. We’d discover both brief tales or scenes from performs or articles within the newspaper and fake that they had been assignments. And we wrote many, many, many songs that by no means noticed the sunshine of day, however had been workouts that we gave ourselves. So I prefer to assume that when the primary job got here, we had been prepared.
GROSS: Properly, let’s take heed to Alan Bergman sing. That is “What Are You Doing the Remainder of Your Life?” which was written for the 1969 movie “The Pleased Ending.” The composer was Michel Legrand. Why do not you inform us the story behind the music earlier than we hear it?
M BERGMAN: Richard Brooks, who was a beautiful author and director, directed and wrote this movie known as “The Pleased Ending,” which I believe was nicely forward of its time and infrequently will seem on very, very late-night tv however actually did not discover an viewers. Anyway, he got here to us sooner or later and stated, I need you to write down me a music that’s to look twice within the movie, early within the movie. I need it to be – I need it to operate as maybe a proposal of marriage between these two younger lovers. However I need to hear the music once more on the finish of the movie, at which era the spouse, they since married, 16 years later, the spouse has change into alcoholic and has left her husband and is in a bar and goes to a jukebox and selects a music after which sits down with a lineup of martinis in entrance of her. And he shot this stunning montage of Jean Simmons, who performed the spouse, throughout which era she drifts into form of reverie whereas listening to the identical music. And he stated, I do not need you to vary a notice or a phrase, however I need this music to imply one thing very totally different if you hear it the second time.
In order that was a really attention-grabbing, difficult project. And Michel Legrand wrote maybe, I do not know, six or eight tunes as his wont for this half. And so they had been all stunning, however none actually struck the three of us as being proper. And we stated to him – ‘trigger whereas he was writing music, we had been sitting making an attempt to unravel the dramatic query of what the music must be about. We stated to him, what occurs if the primary line of the music is, what are you doing the remainder of your life? And he stated, oh, I like that. And he put his palms on the keys. And so long as it takes to play that music, that is what he performed from starting to finish. And he stated, you imply one thing like that? And we stated, no, we imply precisely like that.
GROSS: (Laughter).
M BERGMAN: And Alan stated to him, play it once more. And he stated, oh, I do not bear in mind fairly what I performed. Fortunately, we had the tape machine going. So we had the music.
GROSS: So…
M BERGMAN: After which we zipped via it.
GROSS: …The primary line of the music impressed the melody.
M BERGMAN: Precisely.
GROSS: Sure.
M BERGMAN: Precisely.
A BERGMAN: However that occurs typically. With Michel, we will not write lyrics first. We favor to not write lyrics first. We favor to have the melody. We really feel that, when now we have the melody, that there are phrases on the guidelines of these notes, and now we have to seek out them.
GROSS: Properly, let’s hear Alan Bergman singing “What Are You Doing The Relaxation Of Your Life?” that he and Marilyn Bergman co-wrote.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?”)
A BERGMAN: (Singing) What are you doing the remainder of your life? North and south and east and west of your life. I’ve just one request of your life – that you simply spend all of it with me. All of the seasons and the occasions of your days, all of the nickels and the dimes of your days. Let the explanations and the rhymes of your days all start and finish with me. I need to see your face in each form of gentle, in fields of daybreak and forests of the night time.
BIANCULLI: That is Alan Bergman, singing a music he wrote together with his spouse, Marilyn Bergman. We’ll get again to Terry’s 2007 interview with the Bergmans after a break. That is FRESH AIR.
That is FRESH AIR. Lyricist Alan Bergman died final week on the age of 99. We’re listening again to our interview with him and his spouse, co-writer Marilyn Bergman, from 2007.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
GROSS: You had been each writing lyrics for the composer Lew Spence, who wrote the melody…
A BERGMAN: Sure.
GROSS: …For “Good and Simple,” which was one in all…
M BERGMAN: Sure.
A BERGMAN: Proper.
GROSS: …Your first hits. And, Marilyn, the best way you described it, one in all you was his morning lyricist and the opposite was his afternoon lyricist. How did he find yourself having two totally different lyricists?
M BERGMAN: As a result of I prefer to sleep late.
A BERGMAN: (Laughter) And it was early in our careers and, you already know, we had been feeling – looking for out who we’re, what we’re saying. And he was writing.
M BERGMAN: I imply, he was proficient.
A BERGMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: You had been each independently writing lyrics for Lew Spence. You met…
M BERGMAN: With Lew Spence.
GROSS: …By way of him.
A BERGMAN: With, sure.
GROSS: Oh, with Lew Spence?
M BERGMAN: With Lew Spence.
GROSS: OK.
A BERGMAN: Yeah.
M BERGMAN: Sure.
GROSS: OK. You met via him, and then you definately determined that you have to be writing lyrics with one another.
A BERGMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: So…
A BERGMAN: And we wrote a music that day.
GROSS: Yeah?
A BERGMAN: We simply – the primary day we had been launched to one another, we wrote a music. It was a horrible music, however the – we love the method. We benefit from the course of. And we – that – from that day on, we have been writing collectively.
GROSS: Are you able to share a couple of bars of the terrible music?
M BERGMAN: Oh, my God. I used to be afraid…
A BERGMAN: I solely know the title.
GROSS: Which was?
A BERGMAN: “I By no means Knew What Hit Me.”
M BERGMAN: Ouch.
GROSS: (Laughter).
A BERGMAN: One thing like that. Ouch is correct.
GROSS: So, Alan Bergman, Johnny Mercer was your mentor. How had been…
A BERGMAN: Sure.
GROSS: …You fortunate sufficient to get…
A BERGMAN: Sure.
GROSS: …To know him?
A BERGMAN: Properly, I met him after I was in graduate faculty at UCLA. And he heard some issues I had written, and he took a liking to me. And we – he spent, you already know, over a interval of two or three years – yeah, he would name me and say, I do know all you are doing is working. And that is earlier than I met Marilyn. And he would – we’d go down together with his household to Newport, the place he had a spot, the place he had a home, and we’d spend the weekend. He would sit on the piano and take heed to me play and sing. He favored the best way I sang, and he was simply terrific. I imply, I would not be speaking to you with out him. He was simply marvelous to me.
GROSS: So…
A BERGMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: What was a number of the finest recommendation that Johnny Mercer ever gave you about songwriting?
A BERGMAN: Properly, you already know, he simply outlined the craft about singing. Yeah. You are writing for an instrument, and you need to respect that. And about – quite a bit about imagery. Extra – it could be extra, you are able to do higher than that. It would not be particular, actually, which was nice as a result of that helped. The extra particular he would – I believe lecturers get, the much less you might be – you be happy to specific your self. And a number of the early songs of mine, you may hear Johnny Mercer in them, making an attempt to emulate him until I discovered and we discovered our personal voice.
GROSS: Alan Bergman, one of many songs you sing in your new album lyrically is a music that you simply say was an engagement present to Marilyn…
A BERGMAN: Sure.
GROSS: …Bergman.
A BERGMAN: Sure.
GROSS: And the music is “That Face,” which was first recorded by Fred Astaire.
A BERGMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: So earlier than we hear you sing it, what is the story behind this music?
A BERGMAN: Properly, Lew Spence, who wrote the music – he was going out with a lady, and Marilyn and I had been going out collectively. And I needed to ask you to marry me and have a – some form of engagement, however I did not have any cash. So we wrote this music, and we did get a – we bought an appointment with Fred Astaire. Fred Astaire was Marilyn’s favourite singer. She liked the best way he sang. And…
M BERGMAN: Nonetheless do.
GROSS: Me too.
A BERGMAN: Oh, sure. Properly, you already know, the – simply to digress for a second, you already know, the literature of the favored music on this nation can be a lot poorer and not using a Fred Astaire as a result of all these nice writers – Berlin, the Gershwins, Cole Porter – and they also all wrote for him. Johnny Mercer. So we bought – wangled an appointment with Fred Astaire and sang him the music. He stated – earlier than I hear, he stated, I – he owned a report firm. He stated, I solely report what I sing in films, however I will hear. He was very candy. And so we performed and sang him the music, and he stated, I will report this subsequent week. And he did. And I handed Marilyn this report, and I stated…
M BERGMAN: And I married him.
A BERGMAN: And he or she married me. Yeah.
GROSS: Let’s hear you sing it from the brand new Alan Bergman CD, “Lyrically.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THAT FACE”)
A BERGMAN: (Singing) That face, that face, that fantastic face. It shines. It glows in every single place. And the way I really like to look at it change expression. Every look turns into the prize of my possession. I really like that face, that face. It simply is not honest. You need to forgive the best way that I stare. However by no means will these eyes behold a sight that would substitute that face, that face, that face.
BIANCULLI: That is Alan Bergman. He and his spouse, co-lyricist Marilyn, spoke with Terry Gross in 2007. He died final week on the age of 99. She died in 2022. After a break, we hear again to a 1989 interview with Jessica Mitford, one of many aristocratic, unconventional Mitford sisters. They’re the topic of a brand new BritBox drama sequence. And I will evaluation the brand new Dexter spinoff, “Dexter: Resurrection.” I am David Bianculli, and that is FRESH AIR.
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