Johnny Burke

Johnny Burke earned acclaim as a lyricist through his many contributions to enduring pop standards of the 1930s and 1940s, most notably via sustained creative ties to composer Jimmy Van Heusen and vocalist Bing Crosby. Antioch, California, saw his birth in 1908; childhood unfolded in Chicago, where piano and drama formed the core of his studies. Time at the University of Wisconsin included piano duties in the orchestra, after which 1926 brought employment at the Chicago division of Irving Berlin’s publishing company in the dual roles of song salesman and pianist. Relocation to the firm’s New York office soon followed, prompting lyric-writing collaborations with composer Harold Spina that first reached the public in 1932 via “Shadows on the Swanee.” Their initial major success arrived the next year with “Annie Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” a hit for Guy Lombardo. Subsequent years yielded a string of smaller successes for Paul Whiteman, Ozzie Nelson, Ben Pollack, and Fats Waller; Waller’s recording of “My Very Good Friend the Milkman” supplied their next substantial breakthrough.

Relocation to Hollywood occurred in 1936, ending the Spina partnership in favor of film opportunities. Working with composer Arthur Johnston, Burke supplied lyrics for the title song of the 1936 feature Pennies from Heaven along with “One, Two, Button Your Shoe” from the same production. Contributions to 1937’s Double or Nothing included “The Moon Got in My Eyes” and “All You Want to Do Is Dance,” after which the Johnston collaboration concluded and work with Jimmy Monaco began, extending through 1940 and quickly generating film songs such as the notable “I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams.” The Monaco pairing produced Bing Crosby’s Oscar-nominated 1940 hit “Only Forever” and added “Too Romantic” and “Sweet Potato Piper” to The Road to Singapore, the initial entry in the “Road” series featuring Crosby and Bob Hope. Later that year the Monaco alliance dissolved, giving way to the most productive association of Burke’s career with composer Jimmy Van Heusen; immediate results appeared in 1942’s The Road to Morocco, which contained “Imagination” and “Polka Dots and Moonbeams”—both successes for Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra fronted by Frank Sinatra—as well as “Moonlight Becomes You.” The 1943 song “Sunday, Monday, or Always” from Dixie proved popular, and 1944 brought an Academy Award for “Swinging on a Star” from Going My Way, a picture that also included the title song and “It Could Happen to You.”

The Van Heusen partnership persisted into the 1950s, frequently supplying material for Crosby films—sixteen in total from the pair, plus nine more Burke wrote with additional composers. Outside motion pictures, the duo created the 1953 Broadway musical Carnival in Flanders, which opened to limited success. Their working relationship gradually waned thereafter, a shift compounded by Burke’s health difficulties. In 1955 Burke added lyrics to jazz pianist Erroll Garner’s enduring standard “Misty,” and the following year four songs appeared in what became his final film, The Vagabond King. Although Burke kept writing amid the rock & roll period, the classic era of American popular song had ended, leaving fewer hits and chances. He died in 1964.