Who wrote "Lover man"?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I have versions of this song crediting Weill/Anderson and Ramirez/Davis/Sherman. Does anyone know which is correct? And possibly even more amusingly, does anyone know how the error occurred?

MG

[Niko]

I have versions of this song crediting Weill/Anderson and Ramirez/Davis/Sherman. Does anyone know which is correct? And possibly even more amusingly, does anyone know how the error occurred?

MG

from the lotte lenya chronicle:

http://www.kwf.org/pages/ll/llcareer3.html

"Records Six Songs by Kurt Weill for Bost Records (BA 8) in New York. The recording is supervised by Weill. Lenya sings "Surabaya-Johnny," "Denn wie man sich bettet," "J'attends un navire," "Complainte de la Seine," "Lost in the Stars," and "Lover Man" (later revised as "Trouble Man")."

so i guess this is where the mistake if it is one comes from, composing the lover man we all know is afaik the thing ram ramirez is most famous for...

[brownie]

MG, the obituary for Roger 'Lover Man' Ramirez in the New Tork Times January 17, 1994 (and please don't tell me you don't believe what can be read in the New York Times!)

ROGER RAMIREZ, 80, WROTE 'LOVER MAN'

Published: January 17, 1994

Roger (Ram) Ramirez, the pianist and composer of the song "Lover Man," died on Tuesday at the Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills, Queens. He was 80.

The cause was kidney failure, said his wife, Marcy.

Though Mr. Ramirez is best known for "Lover Man," which he wrote in 1942, his career as a pianist spanned a good portion of jazz history. He was a child prodigy, and by the age of 20 he was performing with some of the best jazz musicians in New York. In 1933 he worked with the cornetist Rex Stewart and the drummer Sid Catlett, and a year later joined the Spirits of Rhythm. In 1935 he became a member of Willie Bryant's band.

During the 1940's he worked with Ella Fitzgerald, the trumpeter Frankie Newton, and the big-band leader Charlie Barnet. And he spent two years working with John Kirby's influential sextet. Throughout his career he was known as a fine, sensitive accompanist who played in a swing style.

Billie Holiday recorded "Lover Man" in 1944, and from then on Mr. Ramirez's reputation as a songwriter was set. His other tunes included "Mad About You," "I Just Refuse to the Sing the Blues" and "Shook."

In the 1950's Mr. Ramirez took up the organ, and the late 1960's he toured with the blues guitarist T-Bone Walker, the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band and others. In 1987, because of ill health, Mr. Ramirez retired from music.

He is survived by his wife, and a daughter, Michele Ramirez, both of Queens.

Kurt Weill wrote another (different) song also called 'Lover Man'.

Edited December 6, 2007 by brownie

[thomastreichler]

"Lover Man" as performed by a great number of jazz musicians and vocalists was composed by Roger "Ram" Ramirez (the pianist), Jimmy Sherman (also a swing era piano player) and James Edward Davis.

I was not aware that there is another "Lover Man", composed by Kurt Weill. Brownie, do you know any recorded versions of this tune?

Edited December 6, 2007 by Tommy T

[Niko]

"Lover Man" as performed by a great number of jazz musicians and vocalists was composed by Roger "Ram" Ramirez (the pianist), Jimmy Sherman (also a swing era piano player) and James Edward Davis.

I was not aware that there is another "Lover Man", composed by Kurt Weill. Brownie, do you know any recorded versions of this tune?

see my post above, the weill tune is for instance on this lotte lenya cd (under the name trouble man, don't know whether the two names correspond to different lyrics...?)

amazon

here it is called lover man:

other cd

Edited December 6, 2007 by Niko

[Christiern]

I knew Jimmy Davis (shown below w. Billie), who lived in Paris. I also knew Ram. I wondered about the Jimmy Sherman credit, so I asked. Jimmy and Ram credited each other (lyrics and music, respectively)--both insisted that Sherman was there in name only.

This sort of thing--credit for reasons other than creative contribution--is all too common, but it does not always mean that skulduggery is involved. Alberta Hunter wrote "Downhearted Blues" by herself, but she gave co-credit (and the income that comes with that) to Lovie Austin, because Lovie had been very helpful as a business mentor. Lil Armstrong was quite surprised to find herself sharing composer credit with Don Raye for "Just For the Thrill." She had never heard of Raye, but he had apparently written additional lyrics (which were never used).

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks folks! I didn't realise there were really two songs.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

This sort of thing--credit for reasons other than creative contribution--is all too common, but it does not always mean that skulduggery is involved.

I recall in Hoagy's autobio, "Sometimes I wonder" he said that his college friend, Stuart Gorrell came to him once and said, "you've got to write a song that starts 'Georgia, Georgia'", so Stuart got a half credit.

MG