Welcome to

Cafe Songbook

Internet Home of the
Songs, Songwriters and Performers of

The Great American Songbook

Madison Square logo, top of page cafe songbook sign for logo

Search Tips: 1) Click "Find on This Page" button to activate page search box. 2) When searching for a name (e.g. a songwriter), enter last name only. 3) When searching for a song title on the catalog page, omit an initial "The" or "A". 4) more search tips.

Edward Heyman

album cover: Body and Soul" by Billie Holiday
Body And Soul
(an anthology of selected standards by Billie Holiday including "Body and Soul", music by Johnny Green, words by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour and Frank Eyton)

Basic Information

Born: March 14, 1907, New York City

Died: 1981 Jalisco, Mexico

Primary songwriting role: lyricist; also a theater director

Co-writers: (See below).See also a database of 46 Heyman co-writers.

Page Menu

Basic Songwiter Information
Overview and Commentary
Music-Video Cabinet
Songs by This Songwriter
in the Cafe Songbook Catalog
of The Great American Songbook
Web Research Resources
Print Research Resources
Visitor Comments
Master List of Songwriters
Credits

Overview and Commentary
Edward Heyman
(This section remains in preparation)

 

Heyman, whose name is not well known but whose songs are, gave his popular songwriting career an early boost when he co-wrote the lyrics to "Body and Soul" (1930) one of the most oft-recorded songs in both the popular and jazz repertoires. Although born in New York, Heyman was raised in Chicago by a wealthy family, and was educated at the University of Michigan where he wrote lyrics for campus musicals. After Ann Arbor, he returned to New York where he pursued song writing as a career.

His most important collaborator was Johnny Green with whom he wrote, among other songs, "Body and Soul," "Out of Nowhere" (1931), "I Wanna Be Loved" (1932), "I Cover the Waterfront" (1933), and "Easy Come, Easy Go" (1934). His other collaborator's included Dana Suesse ("My Silent Love"), Nacio Herb Brown, Rudolf Friml, Vincent Youmans ("Through the Years"), Oscar Levant ("Blame It on My Youth"), Sigmund Romberg, Arthur Schwartz, Victor Young ("Through the Years"), and Ray Henderson. In 1939, Heyman started writing for the movies and contributed song lyrics to numerous film scores. He wound up in Mexico where he ran an English language theater company. He died in Jalisco in 1981.

   
back to top of page

Cafe Songbook
Music-Video Cabinet:
Edward Heyman

Edward Heyman (lyricist) and Dana Suesse composer play and sing some of their songs in the video below. The following comments are from to whom we owe thanks for the video as well as the following remarks:

Unaccustomed to publicly performing, Heyman (whose numerous lyrics included "Body and Soul," "Out of Nowhere" and "Through The Years") was directed to stand by the keyboard behind an enormous canister shaped microphone and sing songs he had written, accompanied by the composer at the keyboard. He sang only slightly better than Dana, who once told the New York Post, "I sing like an old vulture." Eddie sang "Ho Hum," their runaway hit from 1931, followed by "My Darling," a number he had written with Richard Myers for Earl Carroll's Vanities. Dana obliged and played a florid accompaniment, even though she had not collaborated on that song. This is one of the many times in her career when a manager could have made a better suggestion. Heyman then introduced Gertrude Niesen, who was ascending as one of the greatest torch singers of the decade. Wearing a large corsage on a velvet gown, standing in front of a wall tapestry, Niesen gave all the emotion possible in such a formal, brightly lit environment, and sang the most current Heyman-Suesse song, "My Silent Love." The short subject was titled 'Tableau' and was shown at selected theatres throughout the country during July, 1933, between features, like a cartoon or newsreel. This was the first and last time Suesse and Heyman would be filmed for motion pictures. Fortunately, they had a sense of humor about it. Years later Dana saw the film and laughed, "Look --I wasn't wearing a bra in those days!" The following year, Heyman and Suesse went on to create the song that became Hollywood's unofficial anthem, "You Oughta Be In Pictures." [Visit the YouTube page for the video below to read the remainder of these comments.]




Peter Mintun discusses, sings, plays (on Dana Suesse's piano) and illustrates
"You Oughta Be in Pictures" (words by Edward Heyman, music by Dana Suesse, 1933)
"This is the most popular of Dana Suesse's compositions, copyrighted in February of 1934. By 1933 she and Edward Heyman (lyricist) had a string of song successes and boasted to their publisher that they could write a hit in 15 minutes. For the tune, Suesse appropriated a melody from a 1901 ballet piece by Riccardo Drigo (1846-1930) ('Serenade' from Les Millions d' arlequin). Heyman, who was very prolific with catch phrases (Out Of Nowhere, Ho Hum, Shake Well Before Using, Body and Soul), created a lyric using names of famous movie stars, some of whom were more famous in silent films (Tom Mix, Richard Dix, Lilyan Tashman, Janet Gaynor). According to their story, they locked themselves in a rehearsal room at the publisher's office and emerged 15 minutes later with "You Oughta Be In Pictures." Years later Heyman told me he approached the publisher with the idea of a lyric that included names of contemporary stars such as Warren Beatty. "Don't tamper with a classic," he was told. Although the sheet music says the song emanated from the Columbia film 'New York Town,' there is no such title in the Columbia catalog. All three refrains are heard in this video, played on the Steinway concert grand that was purchased by Suesse in August of 1934." Peter Mintun
back to top of page


Edward Heyman Songs
currently included in the
Cafe Songbook Catalog of
The Great American Songbook
  1. Blame It on My Youth
  2. Body and Soul
  3. Easy Come, Easy Go
  4. I Cover the Waterfront
  5. I Wanna Be Loved
  6. My Silent Love
  7. Out of Nowhere
  8. Through the Years
  9. When I Fall in Love
  10. You're Mine, You
Click here for a database of songs written or co-written by Edward Heyman.
back to top of page

 


Research Resources:
Edward Heyman

Edward Heyman
research resources on the web (listed alphabetically by web source):
back to top of page
Edward Heyman research resources in print (listed chronologically):
 
back to top of page

Visitor Comments

Submit comments on songs, songwriters, performers, etc.
Feel free to suggest an addition or correction.
Please read our Comments Guidelines before making a submission.
(Posting of comments is subject to the guidelines.
Not all comments will be posted.)
To submit a comment, click here.

Posted Comments on Edward Heyman:

 

No comments as yet posted

back to top of page

Credits

(Edward Heyman page)

 

Credits for Videomakers of videos used on this page:

Borrowed material (text): The sources of all quoted and paraphrased text are cited. Such content is used under the rules of fair use to further the educational objectives of CafeSongbook.com. CafeSongbook.com makes no claims to rights of any kind in this content or the sources from which it comes.

 

Borrowed material (images): Images of CD, DVD, book and similar product covers are used courtesy of either Amazon.com or iTunes/LinkShare with which CafeSongbook.com maintains an affiliate status. All such images are linked to the source from which they came (i.e. either iTunes/LinkShare or Amazon.com).

 

Any other images that appear on CafeSongbook.com pages are either in the public domain or appear through the specific permission of their owners. Such permission will be acknowledged in this space on the page where the image is used.

 

For further information on Cafe Songbook policies with regard to the above matters, see our "About Cafe Songbook" page (link at top and bottom of every page).

Cafe Songbook
Master List
of Great American Songbook Songwriters

Names of songwriters who have written at least one song included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook are listed below.

 

Names of songwriters with two or more song credits in the catalog (with rare exceptions) are linked to their own Cafe Songbook pages, e.g. Fields, Dorothy.

 

Names of songwriters with only one song credit in the catalog are linked to the Cafe Songbook page for that song, on which may be found information about the songwriter or a link to an information source for him or her.

 

Please note: Cafe Songbook pages for songwriters are currently in various stages of development.

A B C D E F G H I-J K L M N-O P-Q R S T-U
V W X-Y-Z
back to top of page

Adair, Tom

Adams, Lee

Adams, Stanley

Adamson, Harold

Ager, Milton

Ahbez, Eden

Ahlert, Fred

Akst, Harry

Alexander, Van

Allen, Lewis

Allen, Steve

Alter, Louis

Altman, Arthur

Anderson, Maxwell

Andre, Fabian

Arlen, Harold
Arnheim, Gus

Arodin, Sid

Atwood, Hub

Astaire, Fred

Austin, Gene

Ayer, Nat D.

Barbour, Dave

Barnes, Billy

Barris, Harry

Bassman, George

Belle, Barbara

Bennett, Dave

Bergman, Alan and Marilyn

Berlin, Irving

Bernie, Ben

Bernstein, Leonard

Best, William "Pat"

Blackburn, John

Blackwell, Otis (a.k.a. John Davenport)

Blake, Eubie

Blane, Ralph

Blitzstein, Marc

Bloom, Rube

Bock, Jerry

Block, Martin

Boland, Clay

Borne, Hal

Borodin, Alexander

Bowman, Brooks

Boyd, Elisse

Brent, Earl K.

Bricusse, Leslie

Brooks, Harry

Brooks, Shelton

Brown, Les

Brown, Lew

Brown, Nacio Herb

Brown, Seymour

Burke, Joe

Burke, Johnny

Burke, Sonny

Burnett, Ernie

Burns, Ralph

Burwell, Cliff

Bushkin, Joe

 

A B C D E F G H I-J K L M N-O P-Q R S T-U
V W X-Y-Z
back to top of page

 

Caesar, Irving

Cahn, Sammy

Caldwell, Anne

Campbell, Jimmy

Carey, Bill (William D.)

Carmichael, Hoagy

Carroll, Harry

Carter, Benny

Casey, Kenneth

Casucci, Leonello

Chaplin, Charlie

Chaplin, Saul

Charlap, Moose

Clare, Sidney

Chase, Newell

Churchill, Frank

Clarke, Grant

Clifford, Gordon

Clinton, Larry

Coates, Carroll

Coleman, Cy

Comden, Betty and Adolph Green

Conley, Larry

Connelly, Reginald

Conrad, Con

Cooley, Eddie

Coots, J. Fred

Cory, George

Coslow, Sam

Creamer, Henry

Crosby, Bing

Cross, Douglas

Daniels, Charles N.
Davenport, John (See Otis Blackwell.)

David, Mack

Davis, Benny

Davis, Jimmy

Dee, Sylvia

De Lange, Eddie

Denniker, Paul

Dennis, Matt

De Paul, Gene

De Rose, Peter

De Sylva, B.G. (Buddy)

DeVries, John

Dietz, Howard

Distel, Sacha

Dixon, Mort

Donaldson, Walter

Dorsey, Jimmy

Dougherty, Doc

Drake, Ervin
Drake, Milton

Dreyer, Dave

Dubin, Al

Duke, Vernon

Edens, Roger

Edwards, Michael

Egan, Raymond B.

Eliscu, Edward

Ellington, Duke

Elman, Ziggy

Engvick, William

Evans, Ray

Evans, Redd

Eyton, Frank

 

A B C D E F G H I-J K L M N-O P-Q R S T-U
V W X-Y-Z
back to top of page

 

Fain, Sammy

Fetter, Ted

Fields, Dorothy

Fischer, Carl

Fisher, Dan

Fisher, Fred

Fisher, Mark

Fisher, Marvin

Forrest, George

Freed, Arthur

Freed, Ralph

L. E. Freeman

Gaines, Lee

Gallop, Sammy

Gannon, Kim

Garner, Errol

Gaskill, Clarence

Gensler, Lewis E.

George, Don

Gershwin, George

Gershwin, Ira

Gillespie, Haven

Golden, John

Goodman, Benny

Goodwin, Joe

Gordon, Irving

Gordon, Mack

Gorney, Jay

Gorrell, Stuart

Goulding, Edmund

Grainger, Porter

Grand, Murray

Grant, Ian

Gray, Chauncey

Gray, Timothy

Grever, Maria

Grey, Clifford
Green, Adolph and Betty Comden

Green, Bud

Green, Freddie

Green, Johnny

Gross, Walter

Haggart, Bob

Hamilton, Arthur

Hamilton, Nancy

Hamm, Fred

Hammerstein, Arthur

Hammerstein II, Oscar

Hampton, Lionel

Handy, W. C.
Hanighen, Bernie

Hanley, James F.

Harbach, Otto

Harburg, E. Y. (Yip)

Harling, W. Franke

Harline, Leigh

Hart, Lorenz

Henderson, Jimmy

Henderson, Ray

Herbert, Victor

Herman, Woody

Herron, Joel S.

Herzog Jr., Arthur

Heyman, Edward

Heyward, Dubose

Higginbotham, Irene

Higgins, Billy

Hilliard, Bob

Hirsch, Walter

Hodges, Johnny

Holiday, Billie

Holiner, Mann

Hollander, Frederick

Holofcener, Larry

Homer, Ben

Hopper, Hal

Howard, Bart

Hubbell, Raymond

Hupfeld, Herman

 

A B C D E F G H I-J K L M N-O P-Q R S T-U
V W X-Y-Z
back to top of page

 

I-J

Jacobs, Jacob

Jaffe, Moe

James, Freddy (Pseud. for Teddy Powell)

James, Harry

James, Paul

Jenkins, Gordon

Johnson, James P.

Johnston, Arthur

Johnston, Patricia

Jolson, Al

Jones, Isham

Kahal, Irving

Kahn, Gus

Kahn, Roger Wolfe

Kalmar, Bert

Keith, Marilyn
Kent, Walter

Kern, Jerome

Kisco, Charles

Kitchings, Irene

Koehler, Ted

Kosma, Joseph

Kramer, Alex

Kramer, Joan Whitney

Kurtz, Manny

Laine, Frankie

Lamare, Jules (a.k.a Charles N.

Daniels and Neil Moret)

Lane, Burt
Landesman, Fran

Latouche, John

Lawrence, Eddie

Lawrence, Jack

Layton, Turner

Lee, Peggy

Leigh, Carolyn

Leonard, Anita

Lerner, Alan Jay
Leslie, Edgar

Levant, Oscar

Lewis, Morgan

Lewis, Sam M.

Link, Harry

Lippman, Sidney

Livingston, Fud

Livingston, Jay

Livingston, Jerry

Loeb, John Jacob

Loesser, Frank

Loewe, Frederick

Lombardo, Carmen

Lowe, Ruth

Lown, Bert
Lyman, Abe

 

A B C D E F G H I-J K L M N-O P-Q R S T-U
V W X-Y-Z
back to top of page

 

M

MacDonald, Ballard

Magidson, Herb
Malneck, Matty

Mancini, Henry

Mandel, Frank

Mandel, Johnny

Mann, David

Marks, Gerald

Martin, Hugh

Maschwitz, Eric

Mayer, Henry
McCarey, Leo

McCarthy, Joseph

McCarthy, Jr., Joseph

McHugh, Jimmy

McCoy, Joe

Mellin, Robert

Mercer, Johnny

Merrill, Bob

Mertz, Paul Madeira

Meyer, Joseph

Miles, Dick

Miller, Glenn

Miller, Nathan Ned

Mills, Irving
Mitchell, Sidney D.

Moll, Billy

Monaco, Jimmy

Moret, Neil (aka Charles N. Daniels)

Morey, Larry

Moross, Jerome

Mundy, Jimmy

Muse, Clarence

Myrow, Josef

Nemo, Henry

Newley, Anthony

Nichols, Alberta

Noble, Ray

Norman, Pierre
Norton, George A.

Oakland, Ben

Overstreet, Benton W.

Palmer, Jack

Palmer, Bee

Parish, Mitchell

Parker, Dorothy

Parker, Sol

Parsons, Geoffrey

Perkins, Frank S.

Phillipe-Gérard M(ichel)

Pinkard, Maceo

Porter, Cole

Prima, Louis

Prince, Graham

Prince, Hughie

 

A B C D E F G H I-J K L M N-O P-Q R S T-U
V W X-Y-Z
back to top of page

Rainger, Ralph

Raksin, David

Ram, Buck

Ramirez, Roger (Ram)

Rand Lionel

Raye, Don

Razaf, Andy

Reardon, Jack

Redmond, John

Rene, Leon T.

Rene, Otis

Revel, Harry

Reynolds, Ellis

Reynolds, Herbert

Rhodes, Stan

Robin, Leo

Robin, Sid

Robison, Willard

Rodgers, Richard

Romberg, Sigmund

Rome, Harold

Ronell, Ann
Rose, Billy

Rose, Fred

Rose, Vincent

Ruby, Harry

Ruby, Herman

Ruskin, Harry

Russell, Bob

Sampson, Edgar

Sanicola, Henry

Santly, Lester

Savitt, Jay

Secunda, Sholom

Segal Jack
Schertzinger, Victor
Schwandt, Wilbur

Schwartz, Arthur

Scott, Bertha

Shapiro, Ted

Shavers, Charlie

Shay, Larry

Shearing, George

Sherman, Jimmy

Sherwin, Manning

Sigman, Carl

Signorelli, Frank

Silvers, Phil

Simons, Seymour

Sinatra, Frank

Sissle, Noble

Skylar, Sunny

Snyder, Ted

Sondheim, Stephen

Sour, Robert
Spence, Lew

Springer, Philip

Stept, Sam H.

Stock, Larry

Stordahl, Axel

Strachey, Jack

Strayhorn, Billy

Strouse, Charles

Styne, Jule

Suessdorf, Karl

Suesse, Dana

Sullivan, Henry

Swan, Einar Aaron

Swift, Kay

Symes, Marty

 

A B C D E F G H I-J K L M N-O P-Q R S T-U
V W X-Y-Z
back to top of page

 

T-U

Tauber, Doris

Teagarten, Jack

Thompson, Kay
Tobias, Charles

Tobias, Harry

Tormé, Mel

Tracey, William G.
Trent, Jo

Troop, Bobby

Turk, Roy

Turner, John

Van Heusen, Jimmy (James)

Vimmerstedt, Sadie

Waller, Fats

Warfield, Charles

Warren, Harry

Washington, Ned
Watson, Johnny

Webb, Chick

Webster, Paul Francis

Weill, Kurt

Weiss, George David

Wells, Robert

Weston, Paul

Whiting, Richard A.

Whiting, George A.

Wilder, Alec

Wiley, Lee

Wilkinson, Dudley


Williams, Clarence

Williams, Spencer

Wodehouse, P. G.

Wolf, Donald E.

Wolf, Jack

Wolf, Tommy

Wood, Guy B

Woods, Harry M.

Wright, Lawrence

Wright, Robert

Wrubel, Allie

Yellen, Jack

Youmans, Vincent

Young, Joe

Young, Trummy

Young, Victor

A B C D E F G H I-J K L M N-O P-Q R S T-U
V W X-Y-Z
back to top of page
back to top of page