Biography
Emerging from a New York City upbringing in the final decades of the nineteenth century, during which he held an assortment of unconventional positions that included café performances, Sam M. Lewis began supplying lyrics for his own performances and those of fellow artists. His first success came in 1912 with "That Mellow Melody," initiating a highly productive run of American pop compositions that continued through the 1930s and concluded with the 1939 hit "The Last Two Weeks in July."
After that breakthrough he created several additional numbers on his own before entering into a 1916 alliance with lyricist Joe Young. The Tin Pan Alley team worked with an array of composers that encompassed George Meyer, Fred Ahlert, Jean Schwartz, Ray Henderson, and others, producing material for stage productions such as Sinbad (1918) and Kid Boots (1924). Their partnership generated an extensive catalog until its end in 1930 and yielded such well-known pieces as "Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" (1918), "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?" (1919), "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue," "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" (1925), "In a Little Spanish Town" (1926), and "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" (1930).
Thereafter Lewis supplied words independently, joining forces with composers Victor Young and J. Fred Coots on successful numbers that included "Just Friends" (1931), "Street of Dreams" (1933), and the much-recorded "Gloomy Sunday" (1936).
After that breakthrough he created several additional numbers on his own before entering into a 1916 alliance with lyricist Joe Young. The Tin Pan Alley team worked with an array of composers that encompassed George Meyer, Fred Ahlert, Jean Schwartz, Ray Henderson, and others, producing material for stage productions such as Sinbad (1918) and Kid Boots (1924). Their partnership generated an extensive catalog until its end in 1930 and yielded such well-known pieces as "Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" (1918), "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?" (1919), "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue," "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" (1925), "In a Little Spanish Town" (1926), and "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" (1930).
Thereafter Lewis supplied words independently, joining forces with composers Victor Young and J. Fred Coots on successful numbers that included "Just Friends" (1931), "Street of Dreams" (1933), and the much-recorded "Gloomy Sunday" (1936).