Born On This Day- April 8th... Lyricist Fred Ebb

"One thing I know, & I've always known is I am my own best friend"
Chicago (1977)




You readers know by now that I have a passion for the lyrics that go with the music.Fred Ebb was a real master of the the musical theatre & the popular song. His work has had a huge influence on me & I had the privilege of performing his songs when I played Herr Shultz in Cabaret in Seattle in 1990. His lyrics have touched me, entertained & amazed me for over 5 decades.


He is dead & he still had a show open on Broadway this month - The Scottsboro Boys... now that is prolific! As a writer, lyricist, composer & director, Fred Ebb made incalculable contributions to the theatre & popular song. Mr. Ebb is a Tony, Grammy, Emmy, Olivier & Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Fred Ebb's first professional songwriting assignment came in 1953 when he was hired by Columbia Records to write a song for Judy Garland called Heartbroken. Mr. Ebb was introduced to composer John Kander in 1964 by music publisher Tommy Valando & they became one of the most legendary songwriting teams in American Theatre history. Their 1st successful collaboration was the song My Coloring Book recorded by Barbra Streisand.


Their 2nd theatrical collaboration, Flora, the Red Menace, created a star out of Liza Minnelli in her Tony Award winning Broadway debut. In 1966, Cabaret, opened & received 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical & Best Score. A 1972 movie version of Cabaret starring Liza Minnelli was nominated for 10 Academy Awards & won 8, & was nominated for 9 Golden Globe Awards & won 3 including Best Picture Musical or Comedy. The same year, the songwriting team wrote a number of songs for Minnelli's television special Liza With a Z, directed by Bob Fosse which received an Emmy Award. In 1975, the pair wrote the Broadway musical Chicago, directed by Bob Fosse & starring Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera & Jerry Orbach.


That musical was successfully revived 20 years later at City Center ENCORES! & subsequently transferred to Broadway where it is currently the longest running revival in Broadway history. In 1977, the team collaborated with Martin Scorsese on the movie New York, New York; the title song was introduced by Liza Minnelli & later recorded by Frank Sinatra, becoming the unofficial theme song of New York City. The Minnelli Broadway vehicle The Act also opened that year. After a  4 year absence, Mr. Ebb & Mr. Kander returned with Woman of the Year (1981), The Rink (1984), Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1985) & Steel Pier (1997). Miramax's 2002 feature film Chicago was nominated for 13 Academy Awards & won six, including Best Picture & was nominated for 8 Golden Globe Awards & won 3, including Best Picture, Musical or Comedy.


Two of his "flops" Zorba (1968) & 70 Girls 70 (1971) have 2 of my favorite scores.


For years Fred Ebb lived and worked in an apartment overlooking New York's Central Park. He decorated his apartment with theatre memorabilia & German Expressionist paintings & drawings, & he collected record albums as a hobby. Fred Ebb died on September 11, 2004.






Its good, isn't it?
Grand, isn't it?
Great, isn't it?
Swell, isn't it?
Fun, isn't it?
Nowadays
There's men, everywhere
Jazz, everywhere
Booze, everywhere
Life, everywhere
Joy, everywhere
Nowadays
You can like the life you're living
You can live the life you like
You can even marry Harry
But mess around with Ike
And that's good, isn't it?
Grand, isn't it?
Great, isn't it?
Swell, isn't it?
Fun, isn't it?
But nothing stays
In fifty years or so
It's gonna change, you know
But, oh, it's heaven
Nowadays