Edgar Leslie
b. 31 December 1885, Stamford, Connecticut, USA, d. 1976. An important lyricist of the '20s and '30s who had a penchant for writing ‘place-name’ titles, such as That Italian Rag, America, I Love You, In The Gold Fields Of Nevada, When Kentucky Bids The World Good Morning, The Dixieland Volunteers, Rose Of The Rio Grande, Kansas City Kitty, California And You, Moon Over Miami, Ashby De La Zouch (Castle Abbey) (in the UK) and (Home In) Pasadena (co-written with Harry Warren and Grant Clarke). Leslie was brought up in New York, and wrote material for vaudeville performers such as Billy B. Van, Joe Welch, and Nat Wills. His first published songs, in 1909, included Lonesome, I Didn't Go Home At All and Sadie Salome, with music by the young Irving Berlin. Leslie's other early songs included He'd Have To Get Under—Get Out And Get Under (with Clarke and Maurice Abrahams), For Me And My Gal (with Ray Goetz and George W. Meyer), Oh! What A Pal Was Mary (with Pete Wendling), Blue And Broken Hearted, Dirty Hands, Dirty Face and Me And The Man In The Moon. In 1927, Leslie came to England and wrote Among My Souvenirs, the first of several songs on which he collaborated with Horatio Nicholls, (the pseudonym for song publisher, Lawrence Wright). The song became one of his most enduring titles and a big hit all over again in 1959 for Connie Francis. Other Leslie-Nicholls numbers included Mistakes (a UK hit for Vera Lynn) and Shepherd Of The Hills (successful for Jack Hylton And His Orchestra). Leslie's output during the '30s included Taint No Sin, And I Still Do, The Moon Was Yellow, Were You Foolin'?, In A Little Gypsy Tea Room, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Midnight Blue (from the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1936), Cling To Me, Robins And Roses, It Looks Like Rain In Cherry Blossom Lane, At A Perfume Counter and Rainbow Valley. As well as the ‘place-name’ titles, his catalogue included some other amusing captions such as When Ragtime Rosie Ragged The Rosary, Where Was Moses When The Light Went Out?, All The Quakers Are Shoulder Shakers and Lord, Have Mercy On The Married Man. His other collaborators included Fred Ahlert, Harry Ruby, Joe Burke, Jimmy Monaco and Walter Donaldson. In the '40s he retired from songwriting and concentrated on his publishing interest.