Joe Greene

A green light for songwriters? That would have to be Joe Greene, based on the west coast for most of his career. If the songwriting craft was a stoplight, and budding tunesmiths the drivers, the best advice for the traffic would be to move when Greene says so, or follow his example. By writing songs that were both clever and unusually appealing, Greene enjoyed the benefit of his material moving around through a variety of genres. The finest singers and bands gravitated toward his material, and not only in the '30s and '40s when vocal artists were recording prolifically and needed to be on the receiving end of an expressway full Tin Pan Alley material. In later years, performers such as Ray Charles would sniff through the Greene songbook in order to find a song perceived to have overwhelming emotional impact, and usually correctly so. The stylishness of Greene's composing also meant that, in some cases, an exciting new genre would become partially identified with one of his songs. In western swing, giddy material such as Greene's "Across the Alley from the Alamo" became as symbolic of the genre as dueling steel guitars and the leader's encouraging whoops. This song, like Greene's phenomenal "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying," are examples of the strong visual imagery this songwriter is a master at, regardless of whether his goal is to inspire titters or tears. In his early career, Greene was closely associated with fellow songwriting genius Hoagy Carmichael and the progressive jazz bandleader Stan Kenton. The interpretations of Greene material by the Kenton band's vocalist, June Christy, are superb, and can be easily sampled on recordings issued under her own name. Greene's career continued to blossom in the '60s and '70s, when he worked on music and scripts for feature films and also wrote novels such as House of Pleasure. It is easy to feel sympathy toward those who would like to credit him with writing and directing the awful horror film The Brain That Wouldn't Die, if only to admit he had weak moments -- but that was another Joe Greene, of which there are many. The songwriter dabbled in album production, and is credited with discovering Ernie Andrews as far back as 1945, on the day when this obscure vocalist -- a classic singer's singer type -- won a local amateur show at the Lincoln Theatre in Los Angeles. Greene produced the first Andrews sessions, including the song "Soothe Me." Andrews' biggest hit, the tune was written by Greene for Andrews, and like many of his songs, recorded by dozens of other artists over the years. ~ Eugene Chadbourne