Ray Gilbert
from Hartford, CT
September 5, 1912 - March 3, 1976 (age 63)
Biography
From the 1940s through the 1960s, lyricist Ray Gilbert wrote songs made famous by pop vocalists and Disney features, and translated many of Antonio Carlos Jobim's songs into English. Some of the many Jobim songs Gilbert translated include Dindi, Amor em Paz (Once I Loved), Samba Torto (Pardon My English), Por Causa de Você (Don't Ever Go Away), Esperança Perdida (I Was Just One More for You), and Inútil Paisagem (Useless Landscape). In addition to Jobim's songs, Gilbert also translated songwriter Osvaldo Farres and "Mexico's Cole Porter," Agustín Lara. Besides his translations, some of Gilbert's most famous songs are Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue-Bonnet, sung by the Andrews Sisters, A Ballad in Blue, sung by Andy Russell (both for a 1946 Disney features), And Roses and Roses (1965), The Face I Love (1966), and You Belong to My Heart. His songs are heard in the 1940s Disney productions #The Three Caballeros (1944), #Song of the South (1946), and #Make Mine Music, and in the films #The Gay Ranchero (1948), #Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), and #Mr. Imperium (1951). Gilbert's lyrics have also been performed and recorded by Bing Crosby with Xavier Cugat His Orchestra, Jackie Wilson, Julie London, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, and many more. Over the years, Gilbert collaborated with several composers, including Hoagy Carmichael (the duo had a hit with 1943's Drip Drop), Kid Ory (who co-wrote Muskrat Ramble), Jett Powers (teamed up with Gilbert in 1958 on the rocker Go Girls Go and its B-side ballad Teenage Quarrel), and Lew Pollack. ~ Joslyn Layne, Rovi
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