RIP: David Weiss
RIP: David Weiss
Mea culpa, I missed this completely. US songwriter David Weiss died late August 2010 of natural causes at the age of 89.
Weiss was a prolific writer who wrote or co-wrote classics such as “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. His songs have been used by Frank Sinatra, UB40, Elvis Presley, The Stylistics and Perry Como.
His signature tune (and the one that will see his grandchildren through college) is “What a Wonderful World” co-written in 1968 with George Douglas, immortalised by Louis Armstrong and still a popular choice amongst advertising people. He also wrote the lyrics for the jazz standard ‘Lullaby of Birdland’, which was a hit for Ella Fitzgerald. Weiss was at ione time president of the Songwriters Guild of America.
“Led me out like a zombie”
The songs included “Oh What It Seemed To Be,” sung by Frank Sinatra. According to an account in a 1995 interview, Weiss’ music publisher arranged for him to adution the song. He advised the composer, “No matter what happens … keep playing to make sure the tune [gets] into their heads.”
Even before Weiss finished, Sinatra was on the phone to the record company making the deal to use it. Weiss did what he had been told and kept right on playing for half an hour, while everyone else “sat down and discussed horses and women and gossip. According to Weiss, “Finally, the publisher comes over to me, lifts me up under the armpits and says, ‘Say goodbye to Frank.’ I said goodbye and they led me out like a zombie.”
“Oh What It Seemed To Be” went on to become one of the top sellers in 1946.