Johnny Burke
Johnny Burke was an influential American lyricist known for his extensive work in popular music, particularly during the mid-20th century. Born in California and raised in Chicago, Burke had a classical music background but carved out a successful career in the realm of popular songs after graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1927. He began his professional journey at the Irving Berlin Music Corporation in Chicago, eventually moving to Hollywood, where he signed with Paramount Pictures and collaborated with notable composers and artists, including Bing Crosby.
Burke is credited with writing lyrics for over 550 published songs, many of which were featured in films and Broadway productions. His partnership with Crosby resulted in iconic hits such as "Pennies from Heaven" and "Swinging on a Star," the latter earning him an Academy Award. His collaborations extended to other prominent musicians, and his work was celebrated and recorded by a diverse array of artists. Despite facing personal challenges, including heavy drinking, Burke's legacy endures, highlighted by his induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the posthumous appreciation of his contributions through productions like "Swinging on a Star: The Johnny Burke Musical." Burke's impact on American music remains significant, making him a key figure in the history of songwriting.
Subject Terms
Johnny Burke
American musical-theater composer and lyricist
- Born: October 3, 1908
- Birthplace: Antioch, California
- Died: February 25, 1964
- Place of death: New York, New York
One of the most popular lyricists of the 1930’s and 1940’s, Burke wrote primarily for film musicals, many featuring Bing Crosby. His fanciful lyrics mentioned moonbeams, stars, dreams, and cottages built of lilacs and laughter, balm for Depression-era Americans.
The Life
Born in California, John Francis Burke grew up in Chicago, where his father was in the construction business and his mother taught school. Although he had a classical music education—he played piano in the University of Wisconsin orchestra—it was in popular music where Burke made his name. The talented youngster got a job as staff pianist, selling songs, in the Chicago office of the Irving Berlin Music Corporation after he graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1927. At the same time, he was playing piano in dance bands and for vaudeville.
After a transfer to the New York office of the Irving Berlin Music Corporation, Burke began writing lyrics for composer Harold Spina, and in short order they wrote some minor hits, enough to attract the attention of Hollywood. In 1939, Burke signed a contract with Paramount Pictures, where he stayed for the rest of his career. Personable and gregarious, Burke enjoyed the parties and the golf games that Southern California had to offer. However, his heavy drinking was a detriment to his health, and he died at the age of fifty-five of a heart attack in his sleep in 1964. Married four times, Burke had four children with Bess Patterson, to whom he was married from 1939 to 1955.
The Music
Burke wrote the lyrics to more than 550 published songs, most of which appeared in forty-two motion pictures and three Broadway musicals. When Burke started at Paramount Pictures, he was first paired with composer Arthur Johnston, and he was given an assignment that would change his life: to write a song for Bing Crosby.
Ballads for Bing. “Pennies from Heaven” was a big hit for Crosby, and the crooner and the studio liked the song (which was nominated for an Academy Award) so much that it became the title of the film. The song also began a relationship between Burke and Crosby that produced a string of popular songs. Burke’s lyrics reinforced and helped establish Crosby’s signature troubadour style. The lyricist downplayed his accomplishment, saying he simply listened to Crosby talk and either took phrases directly from him or patterned some after Crosby’s way of putting phrases together. Crosby was more direct: “One of the best things that’s happened to me is a 145-pound Irish leprechaun named Johnny Burke.” For the next seventeen years, in 120 personally tailored songs in twenty-three films, Burke largely created the Crosby song persona. Burke was one of Crosby’s closest friends, and the singer nicknamed Burke “the poet.” Collaborations with Van Heusen. When Johnston left Paramount for Twentieth Century-Fox, Burke teamed with James Monaco, and he continued writing hits for Crosby, including “I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams,” “Sing a Song of Sunbeams,” “Only Forever” (nominated for an Academy Award), “Ain’t It a Shame About Mame?,” and “Too Romantic.” The team wrote songs for the first of the “road pictures” starring Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour, The Road to Singapore (1940).
When Burke changed to composer Jimmy Van Heusen, he found his ideal collaborator, and they produced hit after hit for the next fifteen years. Writing songs for sixteen more Crosby films, the team also wrote material for others, including Frank Sinatra (“Polka Dots and Moonbeams”) and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (“Imagination”).
Written for The Road to Morocco (1942), “Moonlight Becomes You” was another hit from Burke and Van Heusen, which prompted Crosby to dub them his Gold Dust Twins. Crosby insisted that the songwriting team be paid $150,000 a year at Paramount Pictures, the highest salary of any studio songwriting team. Burke and Van Heusen made good on this investment, winning the Academy Award for Best Song for “Swinging on a Star,” written for Going My Way (1944). The song was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. In 1944 the duo created Burke and Van Heusen, Inc., a music publishing firm, with backing from Crosby, Sidney Kornheiser, and Edwin H. Morris.
The box office magic that Burke and Van Heusen inspired in film audiences, however, did not work on Broadway theatergoers. Their first stage musical, Nellie Bly, ran just two weeks, despite the presence of two great stars, Victor Moore and William Gaxton. While Carnival in Flanders ran only six performances, it did yield the team’s greatest torch song: Sammy Cahn listed “Here’s That Rainy Day” as one of the ten best songs ever written, and Rosemary Clooney called it “the most evocative song I’ve ever sung.” Solo Work. Burke and Van Heusen’s partnership was increasingly strained because of Burke’s heavy drinking, so Van Heusen began to look for a new writing partner, eventually finding one in Cahn. Now alone, Burke set lyrics in 1955 to a well-known jazz instrumental, “Misty,” by Erroll Garner. “Misty” became Sarah Vaughan’s signature song, and it was included in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. He wrote new lyrics to Rudolf Friml melodies for The Vagabond King (1956). Burke’s last major work was the Broadway musical Donnybrook!, which was based on the film The Quiet Man (1952), for which he wrote lyrics and music. Burke was heartbroken that it lasted only sixty-eight performances.
Musical Legacy
In addition to providing Crosby with numerous popular hits, Burke produced lyrics that were recorded by other great vocalists, such as Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Harry Connick, Jr., Doris Day, Lena Horne, Betty Hutton, Johnny Mathis, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Tormé. Burke was among the few lyricists who had seventeen songs selected to appear on Your Hit Parade, and he was one of the first songwriters to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Thirty-one years after his death, the Broadway musical revue Swinging on a Star: The Johnny Burke Musical (1995) introduced his genius to another generation of music lovers.
Principal Works
musical theater:Nellie Bly, 1946 (lyrics; music by Jimmy Van Heusen); Carnival in Flanders, 1953 (lyrics; music by Van Heusen); Donnybrook!, 1961.
songs (lyrics; music by Rudolf Friml): “Bon Jour,” 1956; “Comparisons,” 1956; “This Same Heart,” 1956; “Vive la You,” 1956; “Watch out for the Devil,” 1956.
song (lyrics; music by Erroll Garner): “Misty,” 1955.
songs (lyrics; music by Arthur Johnston; from Pennies from Heaven): “Pennies from Heaven,” 1936; “All You Want to Do Is Dance,” 1937; “Double or Nothing,” 1937; “The Moon Got in My Eyes,” 1937; “One, Two, Button Your Shoe,” 1937.
songs (lyrics; music by James Monaco): “I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams,” 1938; “Sing a Song of Sunbeams,” 1939; “Ain’t It a Shame About Mame?,” 1940; “Only Forever,” 1940; “Sweet Potato Piper,” 1940 (from The Road to Singapore); “Too Romantic” 1940 (from The Road to Singapore).
songs (lyrics; music by Harold Spina): “Shadows on the Swanee,” 1932; “Annie Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” 1933; “My Very Good Friend the Milkman,” 1934; “You’re Not the Only Oyster in the Stew,” 1934.
songs (lyrics; music by Jimmy Van Heusen): “Imagination,” 1942 (from The Road to Morocco); “Moonlight Becomes You,” 1942 (from The Road to Morocco); “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” 1942 (from The Road to Morocco); “Sunday, Monday, or Always,” 1943 (from Dixie); “Going My Way,” 1944 (from Going My Way); “It Could Happen to You,” 1944 (from Going My Way); “Swinging on a Star,” 1944 (from Going My Way).
Bibliography
Furia, Philip, and Michael Lasser. America’s Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley. New York: Routledge, 2006. Furia and Lasser comment on the historical importance of Burke’s writing.
Giddins, Gary. Bing Crosby—A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903-1940. New York: Little, Brown, 2001. Giddins credits a great deal of Crosby’s success to Burke’s skill as a lyricist.
Gottlieb, Robert, and Robert Kimball. Reading Lyrics. New York: Pantheon Books, 2000. This source offers a brief appraisal of Burke’s career and includes lyrics to nineteen of his songs.
Hischak, Thomas S. The American Musical Film Song Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999. Sixty-four of Burke’s songs are briefly described, including who originally sang them, in which film they appeared, and who subsequently recorded the song.
Nolan, Frederick. “Johnny Burke.” In Dictionary of Literary Biography: American Song Lyricists, 1920-1960. Detroit: Gale, 2002. An extensive source of information about Burke.