Summer 2004 - BMI.com

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,
by Richard Engquist
If you live long enough, short-term
memory starts to go. That’s the
bad news. The good news is
twofold: What do you expect of someone
my age and Long-term memory
stays. An old friend in my home
town said, dispiritedly, “I can
remember things that happened
ninety-five years ago, but not yesterday.”
Long-term memory really matters
if you love songs. By the time I
started school I had acquired a
large repertoire merely by listening
to my parents, who often sang as
they went about their work. Their
taste in music was eclectic and
spanned centuries, and I soaked it
all up—hymns, pop songs and
show tunes from Eubie Blake to
Harry Warren, silly vaudeville
stuff, sentimental wartime ballads,
you name it. Picture me at age five,
trudging off with lunch bucket in
hand, disturbing the Minnesota
morning with “You go home and
get your scanties, I’ll go home and
get my panties and away we’ll go!
Ohohohoh, off we’re gonna shuffle,
shuffle off to Buffalo!” followed
by my heartrending interpretation
of “Just a Baby’s Prayer
at Twilight.” Anyone care to hear
me channeling my dad channeling
Fanny Brice and Al Jolson Or my
mom’s version of “Doodle-dodo”
There’s a lot of trash rattling
around in my brain along with
treasure!
But back to business…
Late in May, a New York Times
critic wondered in print which of
the Tony-nominated musicals
might point toward theatre songs
of the future. What might prove to
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