Nobody Knows Harold Arlen

Fats Waller wrote Ain’t Misbehavin’

Hoagy wrote Stardust, you know, 

Leonard wrote Hallelujah, 

That was a long time ago,

Many writers have fortune and fame, 

But there is one man whose fortune left out his name…

You know Ira Gershwin, 

You know his brother, George,

You know Johnny Mercer, 

Though you may not know what for,

You’ve heard of Richard Rogers 

And Duke Ellington too,

You know Jerome Kern,

But tell me, why is it true that

Nobody knows Harold Arlen,

And that is really a shame,

He wrote over 500 hit melodies,

So I am beggin’ you please,

Remember his name…

You get a kick out of Cole Porter,

Almost every Night And Day,

And Sondheim is the sort whose name will never go away,

You all know Oscar Hammerstein and Irving Berlin,

He gave us Blue Skies, but I believe it’s a sin that

Nobody knows Harold Arlen, 

And I don’t know who to blame,

He wrote over 500 hit melodies,

So I am beggin’ you please,

Remember his name…

He wrote the music for Get Happy,

And The Man That Got Away, 

One For My Baby and If I Only Had A Brain,

He gave us Stormy Weather and Blues In The Night,

Let’s Fall In Love and Come Rain Or Come Shine,

Ella often sang, “This Time The Dream’s On Me,”

While Judy did “Over The Rainbow,” Barbara sang “A Sleepin’ Bee,”

Sinatra always loved, “I Got The World On A String”

And “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home,” and still I must sing (that)

Nobody knows Harold Arlen,

He never tasted acclaim,

He wrote over 500 hit melodies,

So I am beggin’ you please, (to coda last time)

Remember his name…

CODA

I’ll beg till everyone sees…

Buffalo born, but Hollywood bound,

He was as good as the greats,

With a signature sound,

As long as I live I’ll proclaim,

You must remember his name.