Biography
Bob Hilliard, an American pop lyricist, produced chart successes stretching from the mid-1940s into the early 1960s. Born in N.Y.C. in 1918, he reached age 28 before scoring his initial hit with “The Coffe Song.” The next year brought additional compositions plus contributions to the Broadway production Angel in the Wings. Hilliard’s catalog later appeared in two more stage works: Michael Todd’s Peep Show (1950) and Hazel Flagg (1953). Three of his pieces—“I'm Late,” “Very Good Advice,” and “All in the Golden Afternoon”—entered Disney’s 1952 animated film Alice in Wonderland, while the 1954 feature Living It Up featured “Money Burns a Hole in My Pocket” and “That's What I Like.” Among his other well-known numbers stand “Civilization” (1947), “Careless Hands” (1948), the 1949 song “Dear Hearts and Gentle People” written for Bing Crosby, the 1951 song “Be My Life's Companion” written for the Mills Brothers, “Bouquet of Roses” (1952), and “Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York” (1953). By 1960 Hilliard had changed direction, turning out soft-rock successes such as “My Little Corner of the World” and Ruby & the Romantics’ “Our Day Will Come.” Across his career he partnered with composers that included David Mann, Carl Sigman, Jule Styne, and Sammy Fain.