Tom Glazer
Tom Glazer
Thomas Zachariah "Tom" Glazerwas an American folk singer and songwriter known primarily as a composer of ballads, including: "Because All Men Are Brothers", recorded by The Weavers and Peter, Paul and Mary, "Talking Inflation Blues", recorded by Bob Dylan, and "A Dollar Ain't A Dollar Anymore". He wrote the lyrics to the songs "Melody of Love", and "Skokian"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth2 September 1914
CountryUnited States of America
song writing years
When I am seriously composing, sometimes a phrase will come into my head, a catch phrase. When I was writing pop songs for a few years, as a career, separate from my folksinging career, I used to write songs for pop singers.
years important lap
Things are forgotten and then perhaps picked up again, if we're lucky, it lasts... if not, then it's in the lap of the gods. The important thing was to do some work that I liked and hopefully that some others might also like, whether for a minute, a week, a month, a year.
song writing years
Technically, I've been retired for some time now. All I ever do is occasionally write songs for friends, such as one, for a friend who had just turned 80. I wrote a song for him called, The First 80 Years are The Hardest.
dad epidemics years
My Dad died during the flu epidemic in 1918 when I was 4 years old. He left a lot of classical recordings behind that I began listening to at an early age, so he must have been a music lover.
years special serious
I published, privately, a collection of my serious poetry I had written over the years. I only published 50 copies, which I gave to friends, in a special deluxe edition. It was ridiculously expensive but I'm glad that I did it.
age american-musician came head large obsessed since song
Just this morning, out of a large memory for songs, and having been obsessed by them since childhood, suddenly, at the age of 84, I thought of a song I hadn't thought of in over 50 years. It came into my head unbidden.
american-musician ended full time
I ended up performing on a full time basis and I never got to Julliard at all.
american-musician betty came martin musicians phil quartet recorded tony
The Musicians was recorded as a quartet by Dinah Shore, Phil Harris, Tony Martin and Betty Hutton. It was not a hit; it came and went.
american-musician great later music pervasive public schools strong struck
Later in the public schools of Philadelphia, where I was born, music was a very strong pervasive element, which struck me with great force.
american-musician descend jobs met open prolonged senior starting
I met my wife in Washington, D.C. I was a senior in college. WW II was about to descend upon us. Jobs were starting to open up after a prolonged depression.
american-musician later lyrics major melody number turned wrote
In the 50s, I wrote the lyrics to an old melody called Melody of Love, which was number one for a while. It later turned into a major hit.
music today folks
When I listen to music today, it is about 99 percent classical. I rarely even listen to folk music, the music of my own specialty, because folk music is to me more limited than classical music.
success careers way
I started my career at the top and have been working my way downwards ever since.
lonely sound negative
Most performers don't admit this, because it sounds negative and performers are not supposed to be negative, but when I was on the road, I was lonely.