Joseph McCarthy (songwriter)

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Joseph "Joe" McCarthy (born September 27, 1885 in Somerville (Massachusetts) , † December 18, 1943 in New York City ) was an American songwriter .

Live and act

Title of the sheet music edition of "You Made Me Love You", 1913

Joseph McCarthy began his career as a cabaret singer before starting to write lyrics. His first hit was "You Made Me Love You" in 1913, which he wrote with James V. Monaco . The song was successfully used by Al Jolson and Grace La Rue , in later years a. a. interpreted by Harry James , Judy Garland . Three years later, the McCarthy / Monaco songwriting team released "Why Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?" (The song, which was first recorded in 1917 by Ada Jones and Billy Murray for Victor, was in 1959 in the version of Emile Ford & The Checkmates a number one hit in the UK). McCarthy then worked for Broadway shows: in 1918 he and Harry Carroll wrote the songs for the music revue Oh, Look and the song "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows", which Tony Bennett , Bing Crosby , Stan Getz , Harry James, Stan Kenton , Gloria Lynne , Buddy Rich and Frank Sinatra made the standard. Together with Harry Tierney he had further successes with the musical Irene (1919), whose song Alice Blue Gown , which the Broadway singer Alice made the number 1 hit and which was later played by musicians such as Chet Atkins , Duke Ellington , Tommy Dorsey , Benny Goodman , Glenn Miller , the Original Dixieland Jazz Band , Red Nichols , Muggsy Spanier and Teddy Wilson . The name and the "blue" of the title were a reference to Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the daughter of the future US President Theodore Roosevelt .

McCarthy / Tierney also wrote for the Ziegfeld Follies and shows such as The Broadway Whirl, Up She Goes, Glory and in 1923 for Florence Ziegfeld's Kid Boots (with Eddie Cantor ). In 1927 both had success with the operetta Rio Rita on Broadway; from this came the songs The Rangers' Song, You're Always in My Arms, Following the Sun Around, The Kikajou and If You're in Love, You'll Waltz . Tierney's and McCarthy's collaboration ended in 1928 with the less than successful musical Cross My Heart . McCarthy had further success with the songs "Ireland Must Be Heaven for My Mother Came from There" (1916, with Fred Fisher ), "I'm in the Market for You" (1930, with James F. Hanley ) and "Ten Pins in the Sky ”(with Milton Ager ), which Judy Garland sang in the 1938 film Listen Darling .

His son, lyricist Joseph McCarthy Jr. worked with composer Cy Coleman (" Why Try to Change Me Now ").

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Discographic information at Allmusic
  2. ^ Gerhard Klußmeier : Jazz in the Charts. Another view on jazz history. Liner Notes and Companion Book of the 100 CD Edition. Membrane International GmbH. ISBN 978-3-86735-062-4
  3. ↑ Ken Bloom: The American Songbook - The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs - 100 Years of American Popular Music - The Stories of the Creators and Performers . New York City, Black Dog & Leventhal, 2005 ISBN 1-57912-448-8 )
personal data
SURNAME McCarthy, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McCarthy, Joe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Somerville, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 1943
Place of death New York City