Lyrics

  Lyrics

  Richard Matheson

  Copyright

  Lyrics

  Copyright © 2011 by RXR, Inc.

  Cover art to the electronic edition copyright © 2011 by RosettaBooks, LLC

  All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher or the author.

  Electronic edition published 2011 by RosettaBooks LLC, New York.

  ISBN e-Pub edition: 9780795316913

  Contents

  IT LOOKS LIKE RAIN

  I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU

  WHEN YOU’RE FLOATING DOWN THE VOLGA WITH OLGA

  ONLY A DREAM

  LA VALSE DE MÉMOIRE

  MY HEART IS TAKEN

  ABNORMAL YOU

  RIGHT FROM THE START

  A PRINCESS HAS A FULL TIME JOB

  IN KING ARTHUR

  LAUGHING IS EASY

  GLORY BE!

  FOR A BOY WHO COULD CARE

  I COULD BE

  IF I CRY

  IN THE NIGHT

  HERE IN THE DARKNESS

  WORDS

  FIGHT ON MISSOURI!

  BECAUSE OF YOU

  IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

  MY HEART TELLS ME DIFFERENT

  MARY

  WITHOUT ROMANCE

  PITY MY HEART

  BLUE TEMPTATION

  ANYTIME

  I TRIED TO SMILE

  THE BEAT IS BLUE

  EVERYDAY

  LOVE

  I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS

  DO YOU REMEMBER ME?

  I WANT A BARBARIAN

  WHAT I NEED

  GOLD IS LOOKING AT AMERICA

  LOVE IS GIVING

  I L-O-V-E Y-O-U

  DEDICATION

  To Carol Burnett

  With gratitude for the

  many years of wonderful

  entertainment she gave to

  my family and me.

  “Lyrics”

  by

  Richard Matheson

  Few of my readers (probably none) know that, for many years, I wrote songs, (words and music) hoping they would be popular – a hope I rarely achieved. Why I did this, I have no idea. Well, maybe I do.

  I believe that a fortunate few are born with a creative inclination. How they take advantage of this inclination depends on physical circumstances. I don’t mean bodily health so much as family conditions. For instance, if my family had consisted of artists, I might have been inclined in that direction. My mother did paint charming miniatures and I had a first cousin who drew very amusing cartoons. I even did some pencil drawing myself but not enough to matter. At any rate, I grew up during the Depression (1929-1938) and couldn’t have afforded art supplies anyway.

  If my family had consisted of professional actors, I might have gone into that. I did perform in a few amateur theatre productions but never with much dedication. Also one word in a major film – SOMEWHERE IN TIME. In brief, acting was out. Encouragement in that field was nil.

  If my family had consisted of composers and musicians, I might have concentrated on that creative area. My older sister played piano very well, my mother taught me how to play the piano (I taught myself how to write music.) But, again, the Depression. We had a second-hand, upright piano. Nothing more. (Leaving me, once more, with the question – Why did I choose to write songs?) Maybe because, they were half words. That was the creative world I was most drawn to. When I was seven years old, I wrote little poems and stories, some of which were published in The Brooklyn Eagle. And – hampered, as always, by the Depression’s effect, all I needed was paper and pencil; maybe, if I felt ambitious, an inexpensive notebook. I used one to write a novel when I was fourteen (completed by the time I was sixteen.) It was the creative area I concentrated on. Let me add that the music to all my songs ranges from – more than likely – imitative to (I think) rather good. Later on, when I started composing non-songs such as piano solos and a symphony in five movements in – of all crazy things – the style of Mahler, I came up with some genuinely (again, I think) lovely melodies. The last movement – Chorale – had a most effective theme.

  * * * *

  I wrote my first song in 1943. I was seventeen. It was not too dreadful a beginning in that the lyrics were somewhat “different” in concept. (I thought) In those days, the majority of songs had a verse and a chorus, a practice rarely followed today.

  IT LOOKS LIKE RAIN

  Verse:

  Weather man

  says skies are sunny.

  Says it’s fair and warm

  all the day

  Weather man

  Something is funny

  I can see storm clouds

  coming my way.

  Chorus:

  It looks like rain on my love

  The dark clouds above

  are chasing the sunbeams away

  The ugly clouds of despair

  Are hovering near today

  Not long ago

  Skies were blue

  Blessed by the magic of you.

  Now you are gone

  and it seems

  gone are the wonderful dreams

  That I had

  The days go by

  and are gone

  and though I go on

  It’s different not having you near

  The skies are gray and obscure

  where there was sunshine before

  It looks like rain

  on my love affair.

  My next lyric – still 1943 – succumbed to the obvious. (The music crammed with four-note chords.)

  I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU

  Verse:

  I’ve got something on my mind

  Something I must do

  I have waited long to find

  Someone just like you

  You may well believe me

  I am just that way

  When I hold your hand

  and say:

  Chorus:

  I’m in love with you

  No words are simpler

  Than these few

  And yet the simple words are best

  When they are really true

  I’m in love with you

  And yet that statement isn’t through

  It needs your love so sweet and tender

  To really render it true.

  You and I should always be together.

  Our hearts match forever and a day.

  You and I should be birds of a feather

  I know that this is true

  That’s why I say

  I’m in love with you

  I know that I will always be

  There’s only one thing that I ask

  Please say that you love me.

  * * * *

  My creative drive definitely went out the window with my third song. I must have realized its inferiority (I hope that’s a word) because I credited it to an unknown writer, one Guy Casman.

  WHEN YOU’RE FLOATING DOWN THE VOLGA WITH OLGA

  Verse:

  In Russia there’s a river

  called the Volga

  and on its banks

  there lives a girl named Olga

  Every day she goes rowin’

  Olga on the Volga

  And she’s not alo-ne

  Chorus:

  When you’re floatin’ down the Volga with Olga

  and she looks at you with Russian eyes of blue

  And you’re floating down the Volga with Olga

  There’s really only one thing to do (kiss sound effect)

  So you do not wish to leave Miss Olga

  and for her love you pine

  You had better ask her quickly

  to be your wedded one

  Or Olga to Volga


  Olga to Volga

  I’ll ask Olga to be mine

  I obviously thought that translating “I’ll go” with “Olga” was terribly clever. It was terrible all right.

  That summer, I even wrote a song to the Y.M.C.A. camp where I was a cabin leader. In two parts no less – Soprano and Harmony.

  Chorus: (Mercifully there is no verse.)

  Our lips

  will sing your praise.

  Our hearts will always

  hold a special place for you.

  We’ll dream

  of happy days

  in which we always gained

  by learning something new.

  The years will pass

  yet even as they wane

  The pleasant memories

  will still remain

  But now

  when we are boys

  we’ll fondly say your name

  and sing this song to you

  Camp Brooklyn, you!

  While I was a cabin leader, I met the son of a well-known square dance caller who told me that, when I went to a N.Y. music publisher to play my songs, (which I did) someone in an adjoining room would be transcribing it in case it was any good. I still don’t know whether to believe that or not.

  * * * *

  Clearly overwhelmed by creative zeal, I even made a song from Chopin’s Etude in E.

  ONLY A DREAM

  Chorus:

  Only a dream.

  A distant view.

  Only a wish

  that never has come true

  and lived for me.

  Wishing for something that

  I can never have

  is nothing new.

  Only a beat

  within my heart.

  A fairy tale

  that never had a start.

  A fantasy.

  Love! I feel the magic growing

  of your love but there’s no knowing

  Who she is or where she is

  Because

  she’s just a gleam.

  Just a hope that clings

  and always brings

  only a dream.

  Well, the melody was beautiful anyway.

  * * * *

  There were others; I was grinding them out like sausages: SOMEONE I KNOW, ROLLIN’ ALONG, ONLY YOU, UNDER A SPELL, THE LAMP I SEE FROM MY WINDOW, EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU, etc. Often not completed or not worth completing.

  My next songwriting opportunity came in 1943, at Cornell University when I enlisted in the A.S.T.P. (Army Specialized Training Program.) Actually, I can’t recall having spare time for song writing. At any rate I’m sure I couldn’t have thought up a rhyme for our residence hall named Cascadilla.

  Next came the Infantry (A.S.T.P. students tossed into it – not too happily.) World War Two limited my song writing opportunities. I did enter a contest (sponsored by the Army I assume) to write an Army oriented lyric for an already existing song. Mine was:

  Forgotten first line

  When you hear those 88’s (German shell)

  Dig without ado, digga-do, do, do.

  Dig without ado, digga-do.

  I didn’t win – or place in that contest.

  One more song militarily “inspired.” This one written while I was on guard duty in England. (December 1944) Not too difficult to assess my frame of mind. I titled it LA VALSE DE MÉMORIE. Ouch.

  Verse:

  Night’s are long in the winter.

  They’re bleak with the cold and the dark.

  The warmth of my youth

  has departed.

  The fingers of time

  left their mark.

  Chorus: (or as I wrote it: TRISTEMENT: ouch again.)

  When I am alone

  with the night

  and the winds lonely moan.

  The memories I’ve made

  whisper by

  in an endless parade.

  I see days I’ve spent

  and how little I’ve gained.

  I see good I’ve meant

  and how promises waned.

  The ghosts of the past

  flutter into my room

  and the host of them last

  as the stars and the moon.

  But all night must pass

  and the darkness must blend into day.

  So winter through fall

  These are things

  that the past

  sends my way.

  Gone is my youth

  like the leaves from the trees.

  All I have left

  are my memories.

  A few weeks later, my Division (89th) ended up in Germany. More fun than my song. At least I got a novel out of it.

  * * * *

  Next came college – The University of Missouri, (1946) – after several years of post-Army employment. I went to Missouri because 1. They had a well-regarded Journalism School and 2. It was the only college that would accept me with no language credit. The high school I attended – God knows why – Brooklyn Technical High School – didn’t require a language. I could have, I suppose, enrolled in a technical college, like M.I.T. or CalTech but I didn’t want to. I was immersed in creative aspiration by then and opted to 1. Write stories. 2. Write songs – too. I think I wrote more songs in that period (1946-1949) than I ever did before – or since for that matter.

  My initial venture was for a J. School Musical – IN KING ARTHUR – written and (I believe) directed by an upper classman named Don MacKay. (Sp. could be off.) I wrote several songs for that show. Its leading man was a student named Stanley Nierstedt. (Later, turning professional, he became Stanley Grover. I think Grover was his middle name.) For him, I wrote:

  MY HEART IS TAKEN

  Verse:

  I met her in a bookstore

  Fate meant that we should

  For she’s the one I’ve looked for

  And now I’m lost for good

  Chorus:

  My heart is taken.

  I’m free no longer.

  The cares of waiting

  will drift away

  I never thought that I

  would ever see

  The day I’d find the one

  Just meant for me.

  And I can see now

  That it’s forever.

  I’ll not be free now

  The spell is cast

  My dreams are over

  I’ve found my love

  My heart is taken

  Taken at last.

  * * * *

  Also, in Act One, a novelty song was performed by Mel Mandel – who has, since, gone on to great success as a playwright-songwriter.

  Come to think of it, maybe it wasn’t Mel at all. The words of the verse indicate a female vocalist. However…

  ABNORMAL YOU

  Verse:

  Somehow I’ve acquired a fondness

  For 6’2” of handsome blondness.

  And even though he’s nuts, I love him.

  If your lover is insane

  You’ll appreciate the pain

  Of every little thing I give to

  that nutty guy who does the things I go through

  Chorus:

  Though people who have an intelligence quo

  May like to hold hands when they go to a show

  You hold my feet though why I don’t know

  Abnormal you!

  Though plenty of people whose brains are in tune

  May like to go out for a walk ‘neath the moon

  You’d rather walk from dawn until noon

  Abnormal you!

  I would be so contented

  If you were not so demented

  I feel in disgrace

  loving a mental case

  Though most people marry and blithely ignore

  the meaningless troubles that life holds in store.

  You want an engagement of ten years or more!

  Abnormal you!

  Second Chorus:

  Those who have long engagements />
  are usually few.

  ‘Cause when you’re in love

  you just can’t see it through!

  You want to marry

  when we’re seventy-two!

  Abnormal you!

  The usual pattern

  for nuptial rites

  is groom in tuxedo

  and bride all in whites.

  You want the people

  all dressed in tights!

  Abnormal you!

  (I would be so contented, etc.)

  I could go on

  for a year if not more

  about all the things

  That I have to endure.

  But, since I love you

  I’ll have to ignore

  Abnormal you! Yes!

  Abnormal you!

  Yes! Abnormal you!

  * * * *

  So I added the last line. I can’t believe that whoever sang it didn’t wind it up that way.

  I feel that there must also have been a heroine’s love song in Act One – and I may have written it. (The ms. date seems to verify this.)

  RIGHT FROM THE START

  Verse:

  I always fell in love

  distrusting my emotions

  Now that I’ve found your love

  I’ve lost my doubtful notions

  Chorus:

  Knew it right from the start.

  Knew I didn’t have to wait anymore.

  Felt a beat in my heart

  that I’d never ever felt before.

  This was real romance.

  A feeling that was new to me.

  A dream had come true for me

  never to end.

  Heard a song in the air.

  Saw a sky that was heavenly blue.

  Knew my future was fair

  from the moment I fell for you.

  Wondering and doubt were never there,

  right from the start, my dear.

  * * * *

  In Act Two the hero somehow finds himself in King Arthur’s court. It may have been in a dream or some form of time travel, I don’t remember.

  I do remember that he met a princess who was not too pleased with her situation.

  A PRINCESS HAS A FULL TIME JOB

  Verse:

  Being born of noble birth