We remember Broadway composer Charles Strouse, who died May 15 at age 96. He wrote the music for the hit musicals Bye Bye Birdie and Annie, which included such songs as "Put On a Happy Face," "A Lot of Livin' to Do," and "Tomorrow." Jay-Z sampled "Hard Knock Life," from Annie, on a Grammy-award-winning rap recording. Strouse understood why: "I wanted that song to be gritty. I didn't want it to be a fake. I wanted it to show these desperate times and these maltreated girls." Strouse spoke with Terry Gross in 2002. Also, critic-at-large John Powers reviews Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm David Pianculli. Today, we're remembering Charles Strauss, the Broadway composer who died last week at age 96. Collaborating with lyricist Lee Adams, he won Tony Awards for Best Musical for Bye Bye Birdie and Applause. They also wrote the songs for Golden Boy, a musical starring Sammy Davis Jr. Teaming up with lyricist Martin Charnin, he wrote the songs for Annie.
Even those who seldom see a Broadway show are familiar with some of the songs written by Strauss.
Grey skies are gonna clear up, put on a happy face. Brush off the clouds and cheer up, put on a happy face. Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy, it's not your style. I'm gonna miss you so Bye-bye birdie Why'd you have to go? Once upon a time A girl with moonlight in her eyes Put her hand in mine And said she loved me so much
That was once upon a time Very long ago There are chicks just ripe for some kissing And I mean to kiss me a few Man, those chicks don't know what they're missing I got a lot of living to do
The sun will come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun. Just thinking about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow till there's none. That's grey and lonely. I just stick out my chin and grin and say, oh. The sun will come out tomorrow, so you've got to hang on tilt.
some of the songs written by Charles Strauss. He started playing the piano at age 10 and graduated from Rochester's Eastman School of Music. He studied classical music with Aaron Copland and Nadia Boulanger, then met Lee Adams and started writing a more popular style of music. But before hitting it big in 1960 with Bye Bye Birdie, Strauss had a string of very odd jobs.
He played piano for dance rehearsals and in strip clubs, and even wrote background music for Fox movie-tone newsreels. He wrote the music for the movies Bonnie and Clyde and The Night They Raided Minsky's.
And on the opening credits of the hit 1970s TV series All in the Family, when Jean Stapleton's Edith was seen playing the piano as she and Carol O'Connor's Archie Bunker sang the Those Were the Days theme song, it actually was Charles Strauss who played the piano heard on the soundtrack. And he also wrote the music, while his Bye Bye Birdie partner, Lee Adams, wrote the nostalgic lyrics.
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