Matt Dennis, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany

Matt Dennis, equally accomplished as an arranger, songwriter, pianist, and singer, got his start by being born into a Seattle vaudeville family, studying piano and getting a job playing and singing for band leader Horace Heidt when Dennis was only nineteen. Following his gig with Heidt, he formed his own band with a young Dick Haymes singing the leads -- while he did most everything else. After moving to Hollywood and meeting and playing for singers like Martha Tilton and the group The Stafford Sisters, one of whom was Jo Stafford, he honed his skills as an arranger, started writing songs, and, with Jo's influence got hired by Tommy Dorsey as arranger and composer for his orchestra. His biggest writing success with Dorsey was "Everything Happens to Me," a hit for Dorsey's boy singer Frank Sinatra.

While in the service during WWII, Dennis became an arranger for Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Orchestra and others as well as a prolific songwriter. His wartime compositions, most written with lyricist Tom Adair, turned out to be his most well remembered songs, including "Will You Still Be Mine?," "Everything Happens To Me," "Let's Get Away from It All," Violets for Your Furs, and "The Night We Called It a Day. "Angel Eyes" from 1953, on which he collaborated with Earl K. Brent, marks his last standard. The latter part of his show business career, running into the 1960's, found him more successful as an entertainer than a songwriter.

Cafe Songbook Music-Video Cabinet: Matt Dennis

• Angel Eyes
• Everything Happens To Me
• Let's Get Away from It All
• The Night We Called It a Day
• Violets for Your Furs
• Will You Still Be Mine?

Research Resources: Matt Dennis

• Amazon (publications by and about, recordings, videos, sheet music, etc.);
• DBOPM (Database Of Popular Music: song list; awards; hit songs; co-writers)
• Discogs.com (credits for writing and arrangements)
• Indiana University Sheet Music Collection (In Harmony): songwriter
• Internet Broadway Database (Broadway productions and song credits);
• Internet Movie Database (brief biography, filmography, movie song credits);
• New York Public Library (catalog entries for books, personal papers, recordings, scores, etc.);
• The New York Times (articles about or related to the songwriter);
• NPR Music (Fresh Air broadcast at time of Dennis' death);
• "Voices from the Past: Matt Dennis," 1998 (comments on and Biography of Dennis)
• Wikipedia (Matt Dennis article)
• ASCAP Biographical Dictionary of Composers, Authors and Publishers, New York: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (dates, career, shows/movies, songs; 3rd edition, 1966, entry p. 167)
• Alec Wilder, American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950, New York: Oxford University Press, 1972 -- commentary on 5 songs (p. 505-507 plud one other reference).
• "Relax": sak0506;
• "It Wasn't the Stars That Thrilled Me": Kulturblast;

Cite this page: Matt Dennis, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany, Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/d_sws/dennis_matt.html