Loesser is More
It’s difficult to know where to begin in reviewing The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser (Alfred A. Knopf, 271 pp., $49.95), a coffee table-sized volume edited by Robert Kimball and Steve Nelson. The book is filled with information about Loesser (1910-1969), a truly great composer-lyricist of Broadway shows, films, and pop tunes, but its primary attraction is the lyrics themselves. How many of those should be reproduced here? And when it comes to Loesser’s most popular songs (e.g., “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “Heart and Soul”) and his work for such hit Broadway shows as Where’s Charley? (1948), Guys and Dolls (1950), and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), aren’t his lyrics so well known as to obviate the need for discussion? To some degree, yes.
If you’re interested in having a written record of every line to every song in Loesser’s landmark Broadway opera The Most Happy Fella (1956), you’ll find that The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser more than suits your needs. But there’s more to the volume than that: Kimball and Nelson have taken great pains to provide extensive historical and contextual information about each song, so whether you want to learn about available recordings of a given number, who introduced it on stage or screen, or what its back story might be, you’re likely to find the information here. (How “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” ended up in Neptune’s Daughter, wherein it was introduced by Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban, is one of the book’s most interesting revelations in that it tells us as much about Loesser and his family life as it does about the song.)
Complementing all of this are remembrances from Loesser’s collaborators and family, with many quotes from daughter Susan Loesser’s biography of her father, A Most Remarkable Fella. There are plenty of photos of the shows and films to which Loesser contributed and the people he associated with, and the introductory material offers an overview of Loesser’s career and an extensive chronology of his personal and professional life. Happily, the book’s alphabetical index of song titles and first lines makes it a snap to look up a specific title.
One of the greatest joys of poring through a tome like this is discovering a wealth of material that, for whatever reason, never was seen by the public eye. There are examples from the more famous shows; the Guys and Dolls chapter, for instance, contains lyrics cut from “If I Were a Bell.” (SARAH BROWN: “Ask me how do I feel, little me with the weak solar plexus. Man, if I were a state, I’d be grand, I’d be great, I’d be Texas.”) Also worthy of note is “Love Letter,” cut from The Most Happy Fella prior to rehearsals: “A girl should know better…than believe what it says in a love letter, love letter. Now where will that get her?”
But there are also sparkling gems to be found in Loesser’s unsuccessful shows, such as “Amateur Psychiatrist” from Dream People (1957): “Ev’rybody amateur psychiatrist, amateur psychiatrist. They describe my malady, free-floating anxiety. Amateur psychiatrist, all my friends cannot resist advising the couch instead of the nice warm double bed.” And there’s some wonderful verse that Loesser penned late in his career, such as “Poem With Which to Proclaim Extent of Erudition and Draw Cheers From Those Who Looked Up the Words Too.” As one would expect from the man who brilliantly set the line “Some irresponsible dress manufacturer just didn’t play fair” in How to Succeed…, this poem — which includes the phrase “plaintive module in time’s modillion” — contains more concentrated cleverness than many of today’s Broadway lyricists would likely be able to achieve.
That combination of cleverness and appropriateness could always be expected from Loesser. The Knopf book covers his work over 40 years and never during all of that time did he lose his unique way with words. Here are a few lines from one of Loesser’s earliest surviving songs, “Alone In Your Class (Little Girl),” written with Carl Rice in 1929: “You set the pace, girls emulate your beautiful grace, marvelous nature. That combination wins you a station, alone in your class, little Girl.” And here’s an excerpt from one of his final compositions, “Plea to My Wife”:
Be there and cook for me,
Be a big schnook for me,
When I’m lost, look for me,
Jump in the brook for me,
Wallow in gook for me.For a finale
When I’m on a show,
Up a blind alley
With nowhere to go,
PLEASE WRITE THE BOOK FOR ME!
Frank Loesser was in no way a lesser talent. On the contrary, he was one of the greatest composer-lyricists we have ever known.
