Obscure Mercer

Johnny Mercer was one of the most successful song lyricists of the 20th century, and you're probably familiar with his work on songs like "Moon River," "Something's Gotta Give," "Hooray For Hollywood," and many others. I thought, for the heck of it, I'd post a few lesser-known Mercer lyrics that give a further idea of his unique voice as a writer -- a combination of sophistication and folksy slang.

From the movie They Got Me Covered, "Palsy Walsy" (music by Harold Arlen)

Verse
I need a friend to see me through,
Someone who is tried and true,
Someone who will keep the wolves away.
Nothing is wrong with baby's eyes,
Noting is wrong with baby's size,
Which makes me romantic'ly one-A.
So, you see, I need to be protected,
And, my turtle dove, you are elected.

Refrain

Palsy-walsy,
My old pie-face,
Since I met you,
I'm a dead duck.
Palsy-walsy,
You old sly-face,
Can't forget you,
Rock on, I'm stuck.
Through thick, through thin,
Or any "how've you been,"
We'll grin and take it on the chin.
Who's excited?
Plan your campaign,
You'll get my vote,
I'll take champagne
Or beer,
Because you're my palsy-walsy, dear.

From the movie Daddy Long Legs, the weird "dance-sensation about a nonexistent dance that is never really described" song, "Sluefoot" (music by Mercer)

You want a dance that's easy to do,
Then dig the one I'm hippin' you to,
I'm gonna teach you to fall in
On what they are callin'
The Sluefoot.
You make your right point to the north,
You make your left foot point to the south,
And then you stroll sort o' westerly,
Slow and siest-er-ly,
Sluefoot.
Don't be an oddball,
And don't be a fig.
Try, why be shy?
After all, it's even better if your feet's too big.
You put the old posterior out,
Then you manipulates it about,
It is the most lackadaisiest,
I mean the craziest,
Sluefoot.

You gotta rock like
A rockin' chair,
The step is clocklike
But slightly square,
You count to one,
Two, three, four,
Then you holler:
Sluefoot!
You stick your toe out,
You grab it back,
You really go out,
You ball the jack,
Do what you done,
Done, done before
When you holler:
Sluefoot!

And if you learn to dance it just right,
It shouldn't take but half of the night,
It is the most lackadaisiest,
I mean the craziest,
Sluefoot.

Mercer also wrote a lot of conventional but lovely pop lyrics, like 1935's "Santa Claus Came in the Spring" (for which he wrote both music and words):

Verse

Is it April? Is it snowing?
Have I lost my head completely?
Have blossoms turned to snowflakes on the ground?
Are they robins, are they sleighbells
That I hear sing out so sweetly?
Has someone turned the calendar around?

Refrain

Santa Claus came in the spring,
Santa Claus came when the skies were blue,
I heard his sleighbells ting-a-ling
The day that I met you.
Santa Claus came in the spring,
Riding along through the daffodils,
And I just saw him vanishing
Across the distant hills.
I heard his reindeer on the ground,
I thought I caught a glimpse of red,
But suddenly I turned around
And you were there instead.
What if he hurried away?
Santa Claus came when the skies were blue,
And now it's Christmas ev'ry day
Because he brought me you.

And from the Danny Kaye movie Merry Andrew, "The Sum of the Hypotenuse" -- fun and educational:

The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle
Is equal to the sum of the squares of two adjacent sides.
You'd not tolerate lettin' your participle dangle,
So please effect the self-same respect for your geometric slides.

Old Einstein said it,
When he was gettin' nowhere.
Give him credit,
He was heard to declare:
Eureka!

The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle [etc.]

Sure as shootin',
When problems get in your hair,
Be like Newton
Who was heard to declare:
"Eureka!"

The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle [etc.]

The Wright Brothers,
Before they conquered the air,
Like those others,
Orville hollers: "Lookahair,
Wilbur...."

The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle
Is equal to the sum of the squares of two adjacent sides.
You'd not tolerate lettin' your participle dangle,
So please effect the self-same respect for your geometric slides.