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

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.

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 ednayarkspay 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.]

• Blame It on My Youth
• Body and Soul
• Easy Come, Easy Go
• I Cover the Waterfront
• I Wanna Be Loved
• My Silent Love
• Out of Nowhere
• Through the Years
• When I Fall in Love
• You're Mine, You

Research Resources: Edward Heyman

• AllMusic.com (overview, compositions, credits, etc.)
• Amazon (publications by and about, recordings, videos, sheet music, etc.)
• DBOPM (Database Of Popular Music: song list; awards; hit songs; co-writers)
• Discogs.com (songwriting and arranging credits)
• IndianaPublicMedia.org ("Out Of Nowhere: The Songs Of Edward Heyman" radio broadcast on Heyman's songs.
• Indiana University Sheet Music Collection: Edward Heyman
• Internet Broadway Database (Broadway productions and song credits)
• Internet Movie Database (brief biography, filmography, movie song credits)
• JazzBiographies.com: (brief bio)
• New York Public Library (catalog entries for books, personal papers, recordings, scores, etc.)
• Songwriters Hall of Fame (biography and song list)
• Wikipedia (Edward Heyman article)
• ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, New York: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Cattell/Bowker, Fourth edition, 1980 (dates, collaborators, shows/movies, songs, etc., entry p. 227).
• Gary Marmorstein, Hollywood Rhapsody: Movie Music and Its Makers, 1900-1975,
  New York: Schirmer Books, 1997 (three references to Heyman).
• Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball (Eds.), Reading Lyrics, New York: Pantheon Books, 2000 (pp. 396-400 -- brief biography and lyrics to eight songs).
• Dana Suesse and Edward Heyman: ednayarkspay
• You Oughta Be in Pictures: petermintunmusic

Cite this page: Edward Heyman, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany, Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/h_i_sws/heyman_edward.html