You’re All Invited to the WEJB/NSU Sing Off, Pitting Jack Jones against Andy Williams, with Both Men Singing Ray Evans, Jay Livingston, and Henry Mancini’s Oscar-Nominated Song, “Dear Heart,” from the Eponymous, 1964 Picture by Delbert Mann and Tad Mosel, Starring Glenn Ford and Geraldine Page, and with the late Angela Lansbury (Videos)

[“Mr. Ed Theme and Lyrics (Videos), by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston.”]

Re-posted by N.S.

Both men cut singles of this wonderful song, both of which became hits. Hank Mancini won four Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Song, back when the Oscars for music meant a very great deal. His most famous song was “Moon River,” which he co-wrote with Johnny Mercer (who himself won four Oscars) for Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961).

Jay Livingston (1915-2001) and Ray Evans (1915-2007), were one of Hollywood’s most successful lyric-writing teams.

Livingston and Evans, as they were known, met when they were students at Penn. They cast their lots together, and after their 1937 graduation, headed to Manhattan’s Tin Pan Alley.

Their most famous songs were the Oscar-winner, “Mona Lisa” (a huge hit for Nat King Cole), for Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1949); one of the greatest Christmas songs, Oscar nominee “Silver Bells” (for the Runyonesque, 1951 Bob Hope vehicle, The Lemon Drop Kid, in which Hope played a race-track tout); the Oscar-winner “Que Sera, Sera” (for Alfred Hitchcock/John Michael Hayes/Charles Bennett/D.B. Wyndham-Lewis’ 1956 re-make, The Man Who Knew too Much, which became “DoDo’s” new signature song; and Oscar-winner “Buttons and Bows,” from The Paleface (1948), also as sung by Bob Hope. (The team was under contract to Hope for years to write material for his every public appearance.)

The duo also received Oscar nominations for “The Cat and the Canary” (from 1945’s Why Girls Leave Home—no, I’d never heard of it, either); “Tammy” (from Tammy and the Bachelor (1957); “Almost in Your Arms” (from Houseboat (1958); and, of course, “Dear Heart.”

Oddly enough, “Silver Bells” was not nominated. Fickle, fickle Oscar!

Did “Que Sera, Sera” or “Mr. Ed” become the team’s most famous song? Since the latter was sung every week on TV, from 1961-1965, at one point, millions more people heard it than the gold record, “Que Sera, Sera.” However, “Que Sera, Sera” eventually won out, as Dodo made it the theme song of her immensely popular TV series, and people heard it during every one of 128 episodes, between 1968 and 1973.

In the twilight of their career together—though they surely didn’t know it—Livingston and Evans penned the words for the theme song to the ridiculous (but popular) talking-horse, TV comedy, Mr. Ed (1961-1966).

In what was initially thought to be a stop-gap, Livingston sung the song on the show, but his voice remained on the soundtrack forever.

Livingston and Evans also composed the theme to another of TV’s most popular series, Bonanza (1959-1973), which played their theme on anywhere from 371 to 430 episodes originally, and a million times in syndication and cable re-runs. (The only reason Bonanza was even cancelled, after a mere 14 seasons, was due to the death of 6’4,” 300 lb. cast member Dan Blocker, who had played gentle giant son “Hoss” Cartwright. Although Lorne Greene, playing rancher and patriarch Ben Cartwright, was the show’s nominal star, Blocker turned out to be the series’ “secret star.” When Blocker died, the show’s ratings tanked. That was before the phrase “gentle giant,” had been utterly corrupted by black supremacism.)

These fellows’ music had legs. Has legs!

Jack Jones is still alive, at 85, and on his sixth wife Eleonora Donata Peters, and has two known, grown children. We lost Andy Williams in 2012, when he was 84. He married twice, first to future killer, Claudine Longet, the mother of his three children, and then to Deborah Marie Haas. When Williams spoke of the most important things in life, the first thing he listed was “children.”

Well, how do you like them apples? This was supposed to be a brief item broadcasting Jack Jones and Andy Williams, but turned into an essay celebrating Jay Livingston and Ray Evans!


“Dear Heart”
Lyrics by Ray Evans & Jay Livingston
Music by Henry Mancini

Dear heart, wish you were here,
To warm this night,
My dear heart, seems like a year,
Since you’ve been out of my sight.

A single room, a table for one,
It’s a lonesome town, all right,
But soon I’ll kiss you hello, at our front door.

And dear heart, I want you to know,
I’ll leave your arms never more.

A single room, a table for one,
It’s a lonesome town, all right,
But soon I’ll kiss you hello, at our front door.

And dear heart, I want you to know,
I’ll leave your arms never more.

The Jack Jones Version




The Andy Williams Version