Biography
Harold Adamson, a lyricist active from the 1930s into the 1940s, supplied a wide array of enduring standards such as "Time on My Hands," "Winter Wonderland," "An Affair to Remember," "Everything I Have Is Yours," "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night," "It's a Wonderful World," "Manhattan Serenade," "There's Something in the Air," and "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth." Greenville, New Jersey, was his birthplace in 1906, and he first tried his hand at verse during high school. Acting nevertheless claimed the bulk of his attention both at the University of Kansas and later at Harvard.
Once his schooling ended, one lyric—"Time on My Hands," written with Mack Gordon and Vincent Youmans—secured a spot in Florenz Ziegfeld’s 1930 production Smiles. Over the balance of the decade he added numerous pieces to the popular repertoire through work with composers such as Burton Lane, J. Fred Coots, Walter Donaldson, and Jimmy McHugh, many of them stemming from a 1933 songwriting deal with MGM. World War II prompted the patriotic number "Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer," while two further lyrics, "A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening" and "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night," appeared in the Frank Sinatra picture Higher and Higher.
Toward the close of his career Adamson contributed songs to the films A Date with Judy, Around the World in 80 Days, and An Affair to Remember.
Once his schooling ended, one lyric—"Time on My Hands," written with Mack Gordon and Vincent Youmans—secured a spot in Florenz Ziegfeld’s 1930 production Smiles. Over the balance of the decade he added numerous pieces to the popular repertoire through work with composers such as Burton Lane, J. Fred Coots, Walter Donaldson, and Jimmy McHugh, many of them stemming from a 1933 songwriting deal with MGM. World War II prompted the patriotic number "Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer," while two further lyrics, "A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening" and "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night," appeared in the Frank Sinatra picture Higher and Higher.
Toward the close of his career Adamson contributed songs to the films A Date with Judy, Around the World in 80 Days, and An Affair to Remember.