Monday, August 19, 2019 11:42:13 AM
This is the only #1 hit ever written by a US Vice President. It was composed in 1911 by then-banker Charles Gates Dawes, who became VP under Calvin Coolidge in 1925.
And the rest of the story....
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/tommy-edwards/its-all-in-the-game
The lyrics were added in 1951 by the Brill Building songwriter Carl Sigman, who also changed the song's name to "It's All in the Game."
In The Carl Sigman Songbook, Sigman's son Michael writes:
The most interesting story-behind-a-song saga in Carl's career began with a phone call from a publisher. For years Carl had thought about writing a lyric for a tune he remembered from his classical training.
"The Dawes Melody," or "Melody in A Major," was a classical violin and orchestra piece composed in 1911 by none other than Charles G. Dawes, later Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. Dawes composed the piece in a single piano sitting. "It's just a tune that I got in my head, so I set it down," he told an interviewer.
He played it for a friend, the violinist Francis MacMillan, who liked it enough to show it to a publisher, and Dawes was officially a composer. The tune garnered some popularity when Jascha Heifetz used it for a time as a light concert encore. Early in 1951, Carl decided to try and write a lyric to the theme, believing that it was in the public domain, as free of complications as an old Mozart melody.
He knew the two-octave range would be a problem, but figured he could fool around with the melody, take out the high notes and make it more singable. By sheer coincidence, Warner Brothers publishing executive Mac Goldman called one day to ask Carl to consider writing a lyric to "The Dawes Melody," the copyright for which, it turned out, was owned by Warners.
Once Carl recovered from the news that the song was in fact already copyrighted, he rejiggered the tune and realized that a phrase from another song he was working on, a conversational phrase he'd plucked from the vernacular, was perfect for this tune. Once he plugged that title into its proper place, the lyrics to "It's All In the Game," to quote Carl, "wrote themselves."
It's All In the Game: Many a tear has to fall but it's all in the game All in the wonderful game that we know as love You have words with him and your future's looking dim But these things your hearts can rise above Once in a while he won't call but it's all in the game Soon he'll be there at your side with a sweet bouquet
And he'll kiss your lips and caress your waiting fingertips And your hearts will fly away
Carl also wrote this never-recorded intro, to be sung prior to "Many a Tear…" Where love's concerned At times you'll think your world has overturned But if he's yours, and if you're his Remember this… Unfortunately, the vice president never got to hear the lyric.
On the day Carl handed in the finished assignment, Dawes died of a heart attack, prompting Mac Goldman to quip, "Your lyric must have killed him."
Charles Gates Dawes was an American banker, general, diplomat, composer, and Republican politician who was the 30th vice president of the United States from 1925 to 1929. For his work on the Dawes Plan for World War I reparations, he was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. Wikipedia
Born: August 27, 1865, Marietta, OH
Died: April 23, 1951, Evanston, IL
Charles Gates Dawes House
https://openhousechicago.org/sites/site/evanston-history-center/
I bike right by it. LOL! They used it for interior scenes for the TV series Empire and for the Playboy Mansion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Edwards
Although Edwards recorded a number of other songs, none came close to achieving the same level of success, though several of his songs later became hits for other artists, such as "A Fool Such As I" by Elvis Presley, "It's All in the Game" by Cliff Richard and the Four Tops (Eddie Holman's version of it was the B-side of his hit "Hey There Lonely Girl"), "Please Love Me Forever" by Cathy Jean and the Roommates (1961) and by Bobby Vinton (1967), and "Morning Side of the Mountain" recorded by Donny and Marie Osmond.
Died October 23, 1969 (aged 47)
He died from massive internal hemorrhaging due to esophageal varices linked to cirrhosis of the liver (alcoholism). This is per his death certificate.[7] Buried at the Quioccasin Baptist Church Cemetery in Henrico, Virginia.[8] His headstone says he was born 15 October 1922 but his death certificate says 12 October 1926. The 1930 census eludes that his correct birth year is 1922. The informant was his sister, Buena.
Edwards received a Virginia Highway Marker in 2008, erected near Pemberton Elementary School, off Quioccasin Road, in Henrico County. In July 2008, Richmond mayor L. Douglas Wilder signed a proclamation declaring October 15, 2008 "Tommy Edwards Day."
And the rest of the story....
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/tommy-edwards/its-all-in-the-game
The lyrics were added in 1951 by the Brill Building songwriter Carl Sigman, who also changed the song's name to "It's All in the Game."
In The Carl Sigman Songbook, Sigman's son Michael writes:
The most interesting story-behind-a-song saga in Carl's career began with a phone call from a publisher. For years Carl had thought about writing a lyric for a tune he remembered from his classical training.
"The Dawes Melody," or "Melody in A Major," was a classical violin and orchestra piece composed in 1911 by none other than Charles G. Dawes, later Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. Dawes composed the piece in a single piano sitting. "It's just a tune that I got in my head, so I set it down," he told an interviewer.
He played it for a friend, the violinist Francis MacMillan, who liked it enough to show it to a publisher, and Dawes was officially a composer. The tune garnered some popularity when Jascha Heifetz used it for a time as a light concert encore. Early in 1951, Carl decided to try and write a lyric to the theme, believing that it was in the public domain, as free of complications as an old Mozart melody.
He knew the two-octave range would be a problem, but figured he could fool around with the melody, take out the high notes and make it more singable. By sheer coincidence, Warner Brothers publishing executive Mac Goldman called one day to ask Carl to consider writing a lyric to "The Dawes Melody," the copyright for which, it turned out, was owned by Warners.
Once Carl recovered from the news that the song was in fact already copyrighted, he rejiggered the tune and realized that a phrase from another song he was working on, a conversational phrase he'd plucked from the vernacular, was perfect for this tune. Once he plugged that title into its proper place, the lyrics to "It's All In the Game," to quote Carl, "wrote themselves."
It's All In the Game: Many a tear has to fall but it's all in the game All in the wonderful game that we know as love You have words with him and your future's looking dim But these things your hearts can rise above Once in a while he won't call but it's all in the game Soon he'll be there at your side with a sweet bouquet
And he'll kiss your lips and caress your waiting fingertips And your hearts will fly away
Carl also wrote this never-recorded intro, to be sung prior to "Many a Tear…" Where love's concerned At times you'll think your world has overturned But if he's yours, and if you're his Remember this… Unfortunately, the vice president never got to hear the lyric.
On the day Carl handed in the finished assignment, Dawes died of a heart attack, prompting Mac Goldman to quip, "Your lyric must have killed him."
Charles Gates Dawes was an American banker, general, diplomat, composer, and Republican politician who was the 30th vice president of the United States from 1925 to 1929. For his work on the Dawes Plan for World War I reparations, he was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. Wikipedia
Born: August 27, 1865, Marietta, OH
Died: April 23, 1951, Evanston, IL
Charles Gates Dawes House
https://openhousechicago.org/sites/site/evanston-history-center/
I bike right by it. LOL! They used it for interior scenes for the TV series Empire and for the Playboy Mansion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Edwards
Although Edwards recorded a number of other songs, none came close to achieving the same level of success, though several of his songs later became hits for other artists, such as "A Fool Such As I" by Elvis Presley, "It's All in the Game" by Cliff Richard and the Four Tops (Eddie Holman's version of it was the B-side of his hit "Hey There Lonely Girl"), "Please Love Me Forever" by Cathy Jean and the Roommates (1961) and by Bobby Vinton (1967), and "Morning Side of the Mountain" recorded by Donny and Marie Osmond.
Died October 23, 1969 (aged 47)
He died from massive internal hemorrhaging due to esophageal varices linked to cirrhosis of the liver (alcoholism). This is per his death certificate.[7] Buried at the Quioccasin Baptist Church Cemetery in Henrico, Virginia.[8] His headstone says he was born 15 October 1922 but his death certificate says 12 October 1926. The 1930 census eludes that his correct birth year is 1922. The informant was his sister, Buena.
Edwards received a Virginia Highway Marker in 2008, erected near Pemberton Elementary School, off Quioccasin Road, in Henrico County. In July 2008, Richmond mayor L. Douglas Wilder signed a proclamation declaring October 15, 2008 "Tommy Edwards Day."
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