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.
