gypsy tail windOh, das wusste ich nicht! Robison starb allerdings erst 1968, zwanzig Jahre nachdem Peggy Lee mit „Don’t Smoke in Bed“ einen Hit landete!?
Richtig, aber 1947 war Robison noch so krank, daß Peggy und David die Autorenrechte an ihn abgegeben haben:
These compositions have withstood the test of time. Peggy’s 1948 recording of her composition „Don’t Smoke in Bed“ (which she credited to Willard Robison to help his daughter financially) opened the Jack Nicholson movie The Two Jakes.
http://www.peggylee.com/solos/writer.html
In 1948 Peggy Lee had a hit with “Don’t Smoke in Bed” which was also frequently performed by Nina Simone. The song is variously credited to Robison or to Lee, her husband Dave Barbour, and Robison.
http://www.jazzbiographies.com/Biography.aspx?ID=310
So, in den Linernotes der Capitol Singles Collection schreibt Will Friedwald es genauer:
Like many people in Lee‘ s life, the composer (Robison) was an unrepentent alcoholic. Robison spent so much of his last 25 years convincing people he was just about to give up the ghost that no one would have believed that he would make it to age 72. In 1947, he came up with the title and a few lines for a song that he wanted to call „Don’t skmoke in bed“. Lee was convinced that Robison wouldn’t live to finish it, so she and Barbour wrote most of the words and music and made a present of the whole song to him, so he would have a new copyright to leave his young daughter. Surprisingly, Robison lived another 20 not-especially-productive years after that, but Lee’s generosity was rewarded when the record became a minor hit and Robison gave a portion of the song’s publishing to her and Barbour.
Ich war auch ziemlich erstaunt, daß diese Peggy Lee diese Geschichte in ihrer Autobiographie gar nicht erwähnt hat.
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