‘Johnny Mercer: The Dream’s on Me’
TCM accentuates the positive in this new salute to the great songwriter Johnny Mercer, and while Mercer’s life had a dark side, the result tonight on screen is a lavish musical feast worth savoring several times over.
“The Dream’s On Me” shows why Mercer belongs in the same sentence with America’s greatest golden-age popular songwriters, the likes of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, the Gershwins and Rodgers and Hammerstein.
His songs include “Skylark,” “That Old Black Magic,” “Blues in the Night” and hundreds more. He collaborated with writers from Hoagy Carmichael to Henry Mancini, for whom he wrote the lyrics to “Moon River.”
He still followed his muse, the one that fascinated him with a wide range of jazz, pop, blues, folk, classical and gospel music.
Many of his lyrics had an easy, droll humor, like “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” Some were love songs. Others suggested deep pain and longing, like “One for My Baby.”
Rightly described in this special as the ultimate alcoholic torch song, “One for My Baby” wasn’t completely abstract for Mercer. He had a drinking problem, mentioned though not belabored here, and he carried a lifelong torch for a woman he could never have.
That woman was Judy Garland, and “Dream” suggests their doomed love inspired songs like “Come Rain or Come Shine.”
Elevating the special beyond a chronological recitation are dozens of clips that show the great artists singing Mercer’s material, from Nat King Cole’s “Dream” through Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Audra McDonald, Maude Maggert, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby and Mercer himself.
Mercer had what seemed to be an unremarkable voice, without much range, but he understood songs and he developed a relaxed style – not unlike Carmichael’s – that delivered them nicely.
The special also mentions a few things Mercer did on the side, like founding Capitol Records which for many years was known as the ultimate singer’s label.
Mercer died in 1976, and “This Dream’s On Me” salutes the 100th anniversary of his birth later this month. Like all the great songwriters, in a very tangible sense he never left.
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