I Thought About You, Mercer Meets Van Heusen
Several years ago, a composer friend recommended that I read a book called Walking on Water, which he found helpful for understanding the creative process. The author was Madeleine L’Engle. Many of you may recognize the writer’s name because of her well-known books including A Wrinkle in Time. Having spent most of my career as a professional musician seeking to find a balance between my corporate side (i.e. the need to make a living) and my creative side (i.e. the need to explore and develop my composing, arranging, improvising, performing and writing as well as my teaching talents and interests), this book was a huge help.
Ms. L’Engle had dealt with her own need to balance her roles in life, that of being a writer as well as a wife and mother. In the book, she dispels the myth of our image of Beethoven walking through the woods and having all of the music for a symphony just pop into his head. The creative process is certainly a complex one. I have explored the concepts of psychologist Carl Jung, studied the content of my former composition teacher Lukas Foss‘ Boston University Faculty Lecture, and read many biographies of classical composers. As a result I have come to realize that creativity certainly involves a combination of many components.
One of the elements that can evoke and energize our creativity is to discover a successful working method that we can practice until it becomes a habit. Although this will NOT guarantee that we’ll compose a great symphony or write a bestselling novel, it will certainly contribute to the quality and amount of material that we can create. Over the years, I have observed that many of my piano students will arrive at one of their lessons and proudly produce a piece of music that they have composed or arranged. For some, it’s music written down on staff paper, for others it’s something that they can play on the piano and for a few, it’s a notated musical score along with a MIDI recording that they have produced on their computer.
One of the reasons that my piano students tap into their creativity so often is that they are in touch with their own music on a day to day basis. It’s while they are in the process of practicing the music for their piano lessons that an idea occurs to them. Since my teaching methods are designed to help each individual student understand how music works as well as to develop a personal piano playing style, the openness to following the creative urge comes comfortably and naturally to him or her. You may enjoy hearing some examples of how our Ed Mascari Piano Studio students use their creativity on our Spring Recital website page.
Somehow my own creative process took a surprising turn once I began writing today’s blog post. Perhaps part of the reason for this is that I was inspired by learning about the short term collaboration between composer Jimmy Van Heusen and lyricist Johnny Mercer. Today’s featured musical selection, I Thought About You, happens to be one of my favorites. From the moment I saw the music in The New Real Book, I just jumped in, started playing this standard and have enjoyed it ever since. I certainly loved playing it for my solo piano recording that goes with this post.
Meanwhile, I became fascinated by learning in my research how this song became the solid standard that it is. As I mentioned previously in my first post in this Jimmy Van Heusen blog series, Darn That Dream, the composer had worked with lyricist Eddie DeLange in New York City during the late 1930s. Following this period, he moved to Hollywood and began his long partnership with Johnny Burke whom I’ve mentioned in the Here’s That Rainy Day and Imagination posts. As often happens in life, events happen for a reason.
In 1939, the newly established Mercer-Morris Music Publishing Company managed to catch Van Heusen for a three-song collaboration with one of its owners, Johnny Mercer. Mercer was one of the most versatile and active lyricists who contributed to the repertoire of the American Popular Songbook during his career. In fact, he is mentioned in nine of my blog posts written since January of 2009. Mercer wrote two songs with Jimmy Van Heusen, of which I Thought About You was the most popular.
As I mentioned in my Early Autumn blog post, Johnny Mercer preferred to listen to and have the music in hand before he even considered writing one word. He needed the time to let the musical ideas germinate in the privacy of his own space (he was probably an introvert like yours truly). This was his creative process, he knew and understood it and he made it a habit. We can be glad he did! And so it probably won’t surprise you to learn how Mercer wrote the lyrics for I Thought About You.
Apparently, Van Heusen played the music for what was to become I Thought About You for Johnny Mercer in the afternoon. That night, the Mercer took the train to Chicago. He had trouble sleeping because the tune kept playing over and over in his head. That’s all it took. Not only did his normal working method help him to make sense out of his musings, but it also enabled him to be open to his environment. Thus traveling by train became the springboard for his train-themed songs. In fact the lyrics of I Thought About You begin as follows,”I took a trip on the train.” The following year (1940/1941), Blues in the Night, was added to the list. We’ll explore this standard, composed by Harold Arlen, in our next featured composer blog series scheduled to begin in late March.
Hopefully, you can see from Johnny Mercer’s example that discovering and practicing a working method until it becomes a habit is the secret to unlocking your own creative gifts.
As you know from watching the Winter Olympics, athletes definitely need a coach. In the same way, piano students need a teacher to train, encourage and guide them on a regular basis.
Contact us today to find out how taking piano lessons at the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s Hudson or Natick location can not only help you to improve your piano playing proficiency but will also inspire you to use your creativity at the keyboard as well as in the rest of your life.
As always, our patient piano instructors are delighted and excited to help you learn to play the music you love!