彼が作詞した曲をサラッと流してみるだけで "But Beautiful", "Here's That Rainy Day", "Imagination", "It Could Happen to You", "Like Someone in Love", "Moonlight Becomes You", "Misty", "Pennies from Heaven", "Polka Dots and Moonbeams", "Swinging on a Star", "What's New?" と出てきます。 この曲名をみて、「ああっ、あの曲かっ!」と思い出される曲ばかりではないでしょうか。
彼はNYにあった Irving Berlin Publishing に1930年頃入り、作詞家としての活動を始めています。 この時に作曲家 Harold Spina とコンビを組み、いくつかのヒット曲を送り出しています。 このコンビは1936年、バークがハリウッドに移るまで続きました。
バークはハリウッドに移り、映画音楽を数多く手掛けるようになりました。 この時コンビを組んだ作曲家たちには Arthur Johnston, Jimmy Monaco, Jimmy Van Heusen がいます。 なかでもジミー・ヴァンヒューゼンとのコンビは大成功をおさめ、数々のヒット曲を世に送り込みました。
上記のコンビ以外にも Bob Haggart と組んだ "What's New?", や Erroll Garner の曲 "Misty" に歌詞を付けたり、ナット・キング・コールが歌った "If Love Ain't There" の歌詞を書いたりと、いまやスタンダード曲になっている歌詞を提供しています。
---------------------------------------------------------------- Among the landmarks of Burke's songwriting career were:
with Harold Spina: "Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore" "You're Not the Only Oyster in the Stew" "My Very Good Friend, the Milkman" "Shadows on the Swanee" "The Beat of My Heart" "Now You've Got Me Doing It" "I've Got a Warm Spot in My Heart for You"
with Arthur Johnston: "Pennies from Heaven" "One Two, Button Your Shoe" "Double or Nothing" "The Moon Got in My Eyes" "All You Want to Do Is Dance"
with Jimmy Monaco: "Only Forever" "I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams" "Don't Let That Moon Get Away" "An Apple for the Teacher" "On the Sentimental Side" "My Heart Is Taking Lessons" "Scatterbrain" "That Sly Old Gentleman from Featherbed Lane" "Sing a Song of Sunbeams" "East Side of Heaven" "Too Romantic" "Sweet Potato Piper" "Where the Turf Meets the Surf" (with Bing Crosby)
with Jimmy Van Heusen: "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" "Imagination" "Moonlight Becomes You" "Sunday, Monday, or Always" "Going My Way" "Swinging on a Star" "It Could Happen to You" "And His Rockin' Horse Ran Away" "The First One Hundred Years" "But Beautiful" "Apalachicola, Fla" "Here's That Rainy Day" (from the Broadway musical Carnival in Flanders) "It's an Old Spanish Custom" (from Carnival In Flanders) "Oh, You Crazy Moon" "To See You Is to Love You" "Suddenly It's Spring" "Like Someone in Love" "(We're Off on the) Road to Morocco" "You May Not Love Me" "It's Always You" "A Friend Of Yours"[1] "Personality" "Life Is So Peculiar"
"Chicago Style" (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke/1952) - (#5) "Road To Morocco" (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke/1942) - (#3) "Welcome To My Dream" (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke/1943) - (#2)
Recorded at National Recording Studios, New York City, November 17, 18 & 24, 1986
1. Welcome To My Dream
2. Road To Morocco
3. Chicago Style
4. Moon Flowers
5. Moonlight Becomes You
6. You Don't Have To Know The Language
7. But Beautiful
8. Good-Time Charley
9. Moon And The Willow Tree
10. Too Romantic
Musicians:
Anita Gravine (vo)
Gary Burton (vib)
George Mraz (b)
Joe Shepley Burt Collins (tp, piccolo tp, flugelhorn)
Mickey Gravine (tb)
Paul Faulise or Dave Taylor (bass tb)
Peter Gordon or John Cjlark (french horn)
Joey Baron (ds)
Sammy Figueroa (percussion)
Michael Abene (p)
Jerry Dodgion, Dick Oatts, Bill Kirchner, John Purcell, Frank Vicari, Wally Kane (sax/woodwinds)
このアルバムは、映画 Road to .... シリーズで使われた曲を集めたもので、作曲は Jimmy Van Heusen, 作詞はジョニー・バークのコンビによるものです。
Road to .... シリーズは Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour 3人の主演によるコメディ映画で、次のものが作られています。
Road to Singapore (1940)
Road to Zanzibar (1941)
Road to Morocco (1942)
Road to Utopia (made in 1943, but not released until 1946)
Road to Rio (1947)
Road to Bali (1952)
The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
この曲は映画 Road To Morocco で使われました
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035262/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_3_nm_0_q_Road%2520To%2520Morocco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_to_Morocco
We're off on the road to Morocco
This camel is tough on the spine (hit me with a band-aid, Dad)
Where they're going, why we're going, how can we be sure
I'll lay you eight to five that we'll meet Dorothy Lamour
(Yeah, get in line)
Off on the road to Morocco
Hang on till the end of the line (I like your jockey. Quiet)
I hear this country's where they do the dance of the seven veils
We'd tell you more (uh-ah) but we would have the censor on our tails
(Good boy)
We certainly do get around
Like Webster's Dictionary we're Morocco bound
We're off on the road to Morocco
Well look out, well clear the way, 'cause here we come
Stand by for a concussion
The men eat fire, sleep on nails and saw their wives in half
It seems to me there should be easier ways to get a laugh
(Shall I slip on my big shoes?)
Off on the road to Morocco
Hooray! Well blow a horn, everybody duck
Yeah. It's a green light, come on boys
We may run into villains but we're not afraid to roam
Because we read the story and we end up safe at home (yeah)
Certainly do get around
Like Webster's Dictionary we're Morocco bound
We certainly do get around
Like a complete set of Shakespeare that you get
In the corner drugstore for a dollar ninety-eight
We're Morocco bound
Or, like a volume of Omar Khayyam that you buy in the
Department store at Christmas time for your cousin Julia
We're Morocco bound
(We could be arrested)
この曲は映画 Road to Bali (1952) で使われました
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045094/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_to_Bali
Look out
You ready for this?
Who's that comin' down the thoroughfare?
The sunshine flashin' on his ring
Bowin' left and right and here and there
That's Chester, the trombone king
He gets his shirts straight from Paris, cigarettes from the Nile
He talks like a eyebrow but he plays Chicago style
He gets his shoes made in London and they're real crocodile
But he plays trombone Chicago style
And he sometimes plays sweet hup-toodle-oodle-oodle-dee-ooo
But sweet or hot he's always got that real gut bucket beat
He's got a neat Latin moustache and the girls love his smile
But he plays trombone Chicago style
A trombone made in Newark played in Chicago style
Chicago style
Chicago style
He gets his neckties from Naples and his socks from Argyle
Speaks Oxford English but he plays Chicago style
Wears a stickpin from Rio, are you listenin'?
You can see it for a mile but he plays trombone Chicago style
And he sometimes plays sweet uncle Jake's weary blues
But sweet or hot, he's always got that real gut bucket beat
He likes New York for the Opera and gets two on the aisle
But he plays trombone Chicago style
A trombone made in Newark played in Chicago style
Yes, sir, hey, hey
A trombone played Chicago style