The Man That Got Away: The Life and Songs of Harold Arlen (Music in American Life) - Hardcover

Rimler, Walter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0252039467 ISBN 13: 9780252039461

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2015

Synopsis

"Over the Rainbow," "Stormy Weather," and "One for My Baby" are just a few of Harold Arlen's well-loved compositions. Yet his name is hardly known--except to the musicians who venerate him. At a gathering of songwriters George Gershwin called him "the best of us." Irving Berlin agreed. Paul McCartney sent him a fan letter and became his publisher. Bob Dylan wrote of his fascination with Arlen's "bittersweet, lonely world."

A cantor's son, Arlen believed his music was from a place outside himself, a place that also sent tragedy. When his wife became mentally ill and was institutionalized he turned to alcohol. It nearly killed him. But the beautiful songs kept coming: "Blues in the Night," "My Shining Hour," "Come Rain or Come Shine," and "The Man That Got Away."

Walter Rimler drew on interviews with friends and associates of Arlen and on newly available archives to write this intimate portrait of a genius whose work is a pillar of the Great American Songbook.

About this title

About the Author

Walter Rimler is the author of George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait and A Cole Porter Discography.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252039467
• ISBN 13: 9780252039461
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248