View source for Mack David

{{Short description|Musical artist (1912–1993)}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name            = Mack David
| image            =
| caption          =
| image_size    =
| background    = non_performing_personnel
| birth_name     =
| alias               =
| birth_date       = {{birth date|mf=yes|1912|7|5}}
| birth_place     = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date     = {{death date and age|1993|12|30|1912|7|5}}
| death_place   = [[Rancho Mirage]], California, U.S.
| instrument      =
| genre              = [[Pop music|Pop]]
| occupation          = {{flatlist|
*[[Lyricist]]
*[[songwriter]]
}}
| years_active        =
| label              =
| associated_acts     = {{flatlist|
*[[Al Hoffman]]
*[[Jerry Livingston]] 
| relatives           = [[Hal David]] (brother)
}}

 
}}
'''Mack David''' (July 5, 1912 – December 30, 1993) was an<!--awards and nominations don't belong here--> American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning the period between the early 1940s and the early 1970s. David was credited with writing lyrics or music or both for over one thousand songs.<ref name="Mack David 1994">"[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/01/obituaries/mack-david-81-a-composer-and-lyricist.html Mack David, 81, a Composer and Lyricist]", ''The New York Times'', Saturday, January 1, 1994.</ref>  He was particularly well known for his work on the [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Disney]] films ''[[Cinderella (1950 film)|Cinderella]]'' and ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'', and for the mostly-English lyrics<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qZeogUGx1OMC&pg=PA65 "La Vie en rose"], at pp. 65–67 in Dan Coates, ''Decade by Decade 1940s: Ten Years of Popular Hits Arranged for Easy Piano'', Alfred Music Publishing, 2008</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=44C62f3xKYQC&pg=PA98], "Note 62", at p. 98 in Stacy Linn Holman Jones, ''Torch singing: performing resistance and desire from Billie Holiday to Edith Piaf'', Rowman Altamira, 2007</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=uariyzldrJwC&pg=PA144 "La Vie en Rose"], at p. 144 in John Griswold, ''Ian Fleming's James Bond: Annotations And Chronologies for Ian Fleming's Bond Stories'', AuthorHouse, 2006</ref> through which [[Édith Piaf]]'s signature song "[[La Vie en rose]]" gained much of its familiarity among native speakers of English.

David was the elder brother of American lyricist and songwriter [[Hal David]].<ref name="Mack David 1994"/>

==Life and career==
David was born on July 5, 1912, in [[New York City]] to a Jewish family. David originally planned to become an attorney and attended [[Cornell University]] and [[St. John's University (New York City)|St. John's University]] Law School. Despite these original goals, in the mid-1940s, David began writing songs for New York's [[Tin Pan Alley]]. These initial successes prompted David to move to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], California, to work in the film and television industries.

He enjoyed considerable success, including eight [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nominations—for "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo", which he, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston wrote for Walt Disney's ''Cinderella'' (1950), followed by the title songs from ''[[The Hanging Tree (film)|The Hanging Tree]]'' (1959), ''[[Bachelor in Paradise (film)|Bachelor in Paradise]]'' (1961), ''[[Walk on the Wild Side (film)|Walk on the Wild Side]]'' (1962), ''[[It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World]]'' (1963), ''[[Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte]]'' (1964), "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" from ''[[Cat Ballou]]'' (1965) and "My Wishing Doll" from ''Hawaii'' (1966). David was inducted into the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]] in 1975. David's "most remunerative"<ref name=Vosburgh>Vosburgh, Dick. "Obituary for David Mack", ''The Independent'', Wednesday, January 19, 1994.</ref> song, "Sunflower", was published in 1948, and [[Frank Sinatra]] turned it into a hit. [[Jerry Herman]]'s hit [[Hello, Dolly! (song)|theme song]] for ''[[Hello, Dolly! (musical)|Hello, Dolly!]]'' composed over a decade later, [[Hello, Dolly! (song)#The "Sunflower" controversy|used four bars of David's "Sunflower"]]. When David sued Herman for [[copyright infringement]], Herman settled out of court with David (for a reputed $250,000),<ref  name=Vosburgh/> claiming he had never heard David's "Sunflower" prior to working on "Hello, Dolly!"<ref>Jerry Herman (with Marilyn Stasio). Showtune: A Memoir. New York: Donald I. Fine Books, 1996, pp. 102–108.</ref>

==Academy Award nominations==
* 1950 "[[Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo]]" (with [[Jerry Livingston]] and [[Al Hoffman]]) from ''[[Cinderella (1950 film)|Cinderella]]''
* 1959 "[[The Hanging Tree (Marty Robbins song)|The Hanging Tree]]" (with Jerry Livingston) from ''The Hanging Tree''
* 1961 "Bachelor in Paradise" (with [[Henry Mancini]]) from ''Bachelor in Paradise''
* 1962 "[[Walk on the Wild Side (David and Bernstein song)|Walk on the Wild Side]]" (with [[Elmer Bernstein]]) from ''[[Walk on the Wild Side (film)|Walk on the Wild Side]]''
* 1963 "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (with [[Ernest Gold (composer)|Ernest Gold]]) from ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World''
* 1964 "[[Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (song)|Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte]]" (with [[Frank De Vol]]) from ''Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte''
* 1965 "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" (with Jerry Livingston) from ''Cat Ballou''
* 1966 "My Wishing Doll" (with Elmer Bernstein) from ''Hawaii''

==Composer and lyricist of popular songs==
In addition to his many Academy Award nominations, David also had a number of hit songs, including:
* "Rain, Rain, Go Away" (1932)
* [[Duke Ellington]]'s "[[I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So]]" (1939)
* "[[I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine]]", sung by [[Patti Page]] in 1950 (with subsequent cover versions), later covered by [[Elvis Presley]] as a rockabilly-styled tune in 1954
* "The Unbirthday Song" (with Jerry Livingston and Al Hoffman) from ''Alice in Wonderland'' (1951)
* [[The Shirelles]]' "[[Baby It's You]]"  (1961 with [[Burt Bacharach]] and [[Luther Dixon]] (credited as Barney Williams))
* "(Beware of) [[The Blob]]" (a charted hit by The 5 Blobs; film theme song to 1958 camp-horror classic ''[[The Blob]]'', starring Steve McQueen, with [[Burt Bacharach]]
* "[[It Must Be Him (song)|It Must Be Him]]" (1967 with [[Gilbert Becaud]])
* Theme song to ''[[Casper the Friendly Ghost]]'' (1950 with [[Jerry Livingston]])
* "Trick or Treat for Halloween" (with Jerry Livingston and Al Hoffman) from ''[[Trick or Treat (1952 film)|Trick or Treat]]'' (1952)

David collaborated with many composers, including [[Raymond Scott]], Al Hoffman, [[Alex Kramer (songwriter)|Alex Kramer]], [[Count Basie]], [[Burt Bacharach]], [[Henry Mancini]], and [[Jerry Livingston]], on numerous songs for stage and screen, including ''Casper the Friendly Ghost'', ''[[77 Sunset Strip]]'', ''[[Hawaiian Eye]]'', ''[[Bourbon Street Beat]]'', ''[[Surfside 6]]'' and "This Is It" (for the 1960s ''[[The Bugs Bunny Show]]'').

Perhaps David's most popular lyrics were written for "[[La Vie en rose]]", a French song with lyrics by Édith Piaf and music by Louiguy ([[Louis Guglielmi]]), which was Piaf's [[signature song]]. Although David did not write an English translation of Piaf's lyrics, his words captured the spirit of the song; his version was performed by artists such as [[Louis Armstrong]]. The song was recorded by over eighty international singers and musicians{{clarify|reason=Does this mean that David's English version of the song was recorded by that many people, or that the original French version was? As it stands, the implication is that David's English version was recorded by so many, but that seems unlikely.|date=October 2017}} and been featured in several dozen motion pictures.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

David's song "Candy" (co-written with Whitney and Kramer) was recorded by [[Ella Fitzgerald]] for her 1968 album ''[[30 by Ella]]''.

==Work on Broadway==
* ''[[Bright Lights of 1944]]'' (1943) – revue – lyricist
* ''[[Gilbert Bécaud]] on Broadway'' (1966) – concert – featured lyricist
* ''[[Molly (musical)|Molly]]'' (1973) – musical – co-lyricist
* ''[[Sophisticated Ladies]]'' (1981) – revue – featured songwriter for "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So"
* ''[[Swing!]]'' (1999) – revue – featured songwriter for "Candy"

==Inventor==
David had a varied interest in musical composition. In 1975, according to the ''New York Times'' in David's obituary: "Mr. David was granted a patent for inventing an electronic system for composing songs from fractional recordings. The system, which included playback units, stored records of lyrics and melodies. The operator selected words and music that fit together and recorded the combination."<ref name="Mack David 1994"/>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* Biography on [https://web.archive.org/web/20030704052342/http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_bio.asp?exhibitId=215 Songwriters Hall of Fame site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030702200650/http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/discog_song_list.asp?exhibitId=215 Discography]
* {{IMDB name|0202988}}
* {{IBDB name|12842}}
* {{Discogs artist}}
* {{Find a Grave|8009807}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Mack}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:Songwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:American lyricists]]
[[Category:American musical theatre lyricists]]
[[Category:Broadway composers and lyricists]]
[[Category:Cornell University alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish American songwriters]]
[[Category:St. John's University (New York City) alumni]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery]]
[[Category:20th-century American musicians]]
[[Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios people]]