Once upon a song

"A man will never grow old if he knows what he’s doing tomorrow and enjoys it. There are many who treat it as just a business, but it’s more than a business. Unless you get goose bumps listening to ‘Porgy and Bess’ or ‘Carousel,’ then you’re in the wrong game.”

“A lot of people don’t love writing as much as I do. I would rather write a song than do most things in life. When I have a song to write I’m very happy.”

Madam Arcati and I were thrilled to bag tickets for the BBC Radio 2 recording of An Evening With Don Black, hosted by Michael Ball, at the Radio Theatre (in the glittering Art Deco surroundings of BBC Broadcasting House) last night. Don Black, the lyricist who has won an Oscar , two Tony awards, a Golden Globe and six Ivor Novellos! We haven't ben in such esteemed company since Stephen Sondheim...

Needless to say, it was an excellent, often funny, often poignant tribute to one of our greatest living songwriters - and featured not only a lengthy in-depth exploration of his life and work, and a selection of the great man's own choices from his estimable back catalogue, but also special performances by Lee Mead, Marti Webb and Mr Ball himself!

We loved it.

...but, what of that back catalogue? Well, it is indeed quite remarkable how many songs that are dear to everyone's hearts - whether pop chart hits, numbers from musicals or Bond (and other) movie themes - were actually written by Mr Black. He wrote the theme song from Born Free, Sam for Olivia Newton John, The World Is Not Enough (as recently featured here) for Garbage, Surrender for kd lang, Ben for Michael Jackson, Love Changes Everything - the song that made Mr Ball a star - and indeed all the songs for the theatrical blockbusters Aspects of Love, Tell Me On A Sunday/Song And Dance and Sunset Boulevard (with Andrew Lloyd-Webber), I'll Put You Together Again for Hot Chocolate, The Man with the Golden Gun for Lulu, just about the entire repertoire of Matt Monro (he was the crooner's manager and great friend, after all), songs for True Grit, Out Of Africa and Dances With Wolves; and he worked with a vast range of composers in the process, including John Barry, Charles Strouse, the aforementioned Mr Lloyd Webber, Quincy Jones, Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Meat Loaf, Elmer Bernstein, Michel Legrand, A. R. Rahman, Marvin Hamlisch and Debbie Wiseman...

...and here's a roll-call of just some of them:

Elaine Paige - As If We Never Said Goodbye (from Sunset Boulevard

Shirley Bassey - Diamonds Are Forever

Preeya Kalidas and Raza Jaffrey - Shakalaka Baby (from Bombay Dreams)

Lulu - To Sir With Love

Matt Monro - On Days Like These (The Italian Job main titles)

Marti Webb - Take That Look Off Your Face (from Tell Me On A Sunday)

Tom Jones - Thunderball

Bernadette Peters - Unexpected Song (from Song and Dance)

...and, finally, possibly my favourite of all of 'em [and certainly one that I would love to think would be played at my funeral]:

Shirley Bassey - If I Never Sing Another Song

In my heyday
Young men wrote to me
Everybody seemed to have time to devote to me
Everyone I saw all swore they knew me
Once upon a song

Main attraction, couldn't buy a seat
The celebrity celebrities were dying to meet
I've had every accolade bestowed on me
And so you see

If I never sing another song
It wouldn't bother me
I had my share of fame
You know my name

If I never sing another song
Or take another bow
I would get by, but I'm not sure how

Always posing, but you love it all
Though you have to learn to act like you're above it all
Everything I did the world applauded
Once upon a star

Framed citations, hung on every wall
Got a scrapbook full of quotes, I can recall them all
There were times I felt the world belonged to me
And so you see

If I never sing another song
It wouldn't bother me
I had my share of fame
You know my name

If I never sing another song
Or take another bow
I would get by, but I'm not sure how
But I'm not sure how
But I'm not sure how

Not bad for a humble Jewish boy from Hackney!

Don Black OBE (born 21st June 1938)