ENGVICK

Known largely for his witty and eloquent lyrics to music by Alec Wilder, William Engvick’s greatest commercial success came with The Song from Moulin Rouge (“Where Is Your Heart”), an English rewrite of a French song introduced by Zsa Zsa Gabor in the award-winning John Huston film. In 1953 the Percy Faith recording with vocal by Felicia Sanders was No. 1 on the Billboard charts for 10 weeks and the sheet music sold over a million copies. “While We’re Young” and “Moon and Sand” written with Alec Wilder and Morty Palitz remain jazz standards to this day.

Engvick contributed lyrics (music by Wilder) to musicals from the Golden Age of Television: Miss Chicken Little (CBS Omnibus, 1953), Pinocchio (NBC, 1957), Hansel and Gretel (NBC, 1959) starring top Broadway talent of the day such as Barbara Cook, Mickey Rooney, Fran Allison, Red Buttons and Stubby Kaye. Miss Chicken Little, a one-act opera, and The Long Way, opera in two acts, were staged in small-scale productions. He also wrote lyrics to themes from Wilder’s scores to Jerome Hill films The Sand Castle and Open the Door and See All the People (Peacock Feathers) recorded by jazz duo Jackie and Roy. One of the duo’s most far-reaching and beloved collaborations was on Lullabies and Night Songs, an entrancing book of children’s songs lavishly illustrated by Maurice Sendak in 1964. Engvick edited the book and provided lyrics to several songs. During the peak of the American Popular Song era, Engvick’s lyrics were sung by such artists as Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra who recorded “I See It Now”, an autobiographical song that helped put the lyricist’s home town of Oakland, California on the map.

English lyrics to tunes that had gained popularity in Europe such as “Anna” from the film of the same name starring Silvana Mangano and “Love Begins (Source Bleue”) with original French words and music by Charles Trenet were assignments Engvick enjoyed. He also collaborated with Edith Piaf on “I’ll Remember Today” , Roy Kral on “Above Love” late in life with Broadway actor Gordon Connell on a rewrite of the children’s musical “Racketty Packetty House” and six new songs.