Sparks from the Fire

(If you missed the beginning of this series, please start with The IRA Awards Part 1)

Richard Rodgers was one of the theater’ greatest composers.  Diamonds attract pearls.  Rodgers attracted the best of his time.  When it came to lyricists, he had the great fortune of working with two of the very best.

Larry Hart

Lorenz “Larry” Hart was his first.  Some of his more famous lyrics include, “Blue Moon”, “Isn’t It Romantic?”, “The Lady Is a Tramp”, “Where or When”, “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”, “Falling in Love with Love”,  and “My Funny Valentine”.

Hart attended Columbia University, where a friend introduced him to Richard Rodgers, and the two joined forces to write songs for a series of amateur and student productions.  The great success of their score for the 1925 Theatre Guild production, The Garrick Gaieties, brought them great acclaim.

They continued working together until Hart’s death in 1943, along the way producing scores for a series of hit shows and making a substantial contribution to the Great American Songbook.

As a lyricist, Hart was an advocate of internal rhyme and multisyllabic rhyming, and his lyrics have often been praised for their wit and technical sophistication.

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Welcome to Part 2 of the Ira Awards!  If you have no earthly idea of what the Ira Awards are, then go to Part 1 and find out.  Besides, who would start anything with Part 2?

Joni Mitchell-Self Portrait

If you’ve already read Part 1, then welcome back!  Tonight let’s start with Joni.  In Part 1 I opened with the expression “A poem doth not a lyric make”.  Joni Mitchell, in my book, comes the closest to writing poetry that works as lyrics.  It is her genius to do so.  Even though she can make it work sometimes, I still wouldn’t try it if I were you.  Joni Mitchells only come along once in a lifetime.

Joni writes a lot like Paul Simon – she paints an impressionistic picture.  She is a poet at work on a lyrical canvas.  She sometimes tells a story, but that story often just has splotches of through line and she leaves it up to the listener to fill in the blanks.  She is also, you may already know, an accomplished painter whose work often graces her album covers.

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