Jewish Stereo Types

"The Christmas Waltz," by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, sung by She and Him (Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward): Video posted by SheandHimOfficial According to Sammy Cahn, it was written during a hot California summer, because Frank Sinatra called and asked for a Christmas song . Wanting to at least not compete directly with Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," they wrote a waltz. And since Sinatra used it as the B side to "White Christmas," it was just as well. As I have mentioned before (and as is strongly suggested by their names), both Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne (pronounced "Julie Stine") were Jewish, with Styne writing mostly for Broadway, Cahn writing mostly for movies, and both writing SO MANY SONGS, both with each other and with others. Lyricist Sammy Cahn was born on the Lower East Side of New York to Jewish immigrants. He started writing lyrics at about age 16 , which (spoiler alert!) ended well: He won four Oscars for Best Song ...

It's late, so here's a short one--"High Hopes," as sung by Frank Sinatra and Eddie Hodges: Video posted by Night Owl TV And that was an Oscar winner for Best Original Song, no less! *** James Van Heusen, the composer, was not Jewish, but as I have noted once or twice before, the lyricist, Sammy Cahn, definitely was . Cahn wrote with numerous composers, picking up 30 Oscar nominations (and four statuettes). His songs include some of the best known in the Great American Songbook: "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," "Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night of the Week," "Time after Time," "It's Magic," "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow," "Three Coins in a Fountain," "Love and Marriage," and many others.

Here's the thing: I couldn't find any good Mothers' Day songs at all. So I tried to find a song about or addressed to the singer's mother that would be appropriate for Mothers' Day and which would also fit my theme, and it turned out to be a little bit of a search. (We'll just leave out the jokes about Jewish mothers, okay? After all, it IS Mothers' Day.) Along the way, I found songs sung by a mama, such as "When You're Good to Mama" from Kander and Ebb's Chicago , and most of the songs from Styne and Sondheim's Gypsy , but much as I'd like to get to Sondheim and Kander and Ebb, these do not seem like quite the right kind of mother songs for Mothers' Day. I also found songs about mama's advice, such as Arlen and Mercer's "Blues in the Night" which were better, but, much as I'd like to get to Arlen, didn't seem to strike quite the right note for Mothers' Day either. Then there's this lu...

Don't get me wrong--I'm not complaining about that! New York snow is only pretty so long as it's falling. So this is meant neither as an order nor a request, but... "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, sung by Gloria Estefan: Video from Gloria Estefan - Topic , "Provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment". Do you know who else has covered this song? ... I'll tell you then: everybody, that's who. Just search for "Let it Snow" on YouTube, you'll see. I mean, really EVERYBODY, including the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. ...Well, in a manner of speaking: Video by jamescovenant . (FYI: The song runs from the beginning until about 1:11; following is an ad for a game by the clever person who put together the video.) And as long as we're looking at a well-covered holiday song by Cahn and Styne, here's another--"The Christmas Waltz," by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, ...