Lyrics by Richard Matheson Read Free Book Online Page B

little I’ve gained.
I see good I’ve meant
and how promises waned.
The ghosts of the past
flutter into my room
and the host of them last
as the stars and the moon.
But all night must pass
and the darkness must blend into day.
So winter through fall
These are things
that the past
sends my way.
Gone is my youth
like the leaves from the trees.
All I have left
are my memories.
    A few weeks later, my Division (89 th ) ended up in Germany. More fun than my song. At least I got a novel out of it.
    *    *    *    *
    Next came college – The University of Missouri, (1946) – after several years of post-Army employment. I went to Missouri because 1. They had a well-regarded Journalism School and 2. It was the only college that would accept me with no language credit. The high school I attended – God knows why – Brooklyn Technical High School – didn’t require a language. I could have, I suppose, enrolled in a technical college, like M.I.T. or CalTech but I didn’t want to. I was immersed in creative aspiration by then and opted to 1. Write stories. 2. Write songs – too. I think I wrote more songs in that period (1946-1949) than I ever did before – or since for that matter.
    My initial venture was for a J. School Musical – IN KING ARTHUR – written and (I believe) directed by an upper classman named Don MacKay. (Sp. could be off.) I wrote several songs for that show. Its leading man was a student named Stanley Nierstedt. (Later, turning professional, he became Stanley Grover. I think Grover was his middle name.) For him, I wrote:
MY HEART IS TAKEN
    Verse:
    I met her in a bookstore
Fate meant that we should
For she’s the one I’ve looked for
And now I’m lost for good
    Chorus:
    My heart is taken.
I’m free no longer.
The cares of waiting
will drift away
I never thought that I
would ever see
The day I’d find the one
Just meant for me.
And I can see now
That it’s forever.
I’ll not be free now
The spell is cast
My dreams are over
I’ve found my love
My heart is taken
Taken at last.
    *    *    *    *
    Also, in Act One, a novelty song was performed by Mel Mandel – who has, since, gone on to great success as a playwright-songwriter.
    Come to think of it, maybe it wasn’t Mel at all. The words of the verse indicate a female vocalist. However…
ABNORMAL YOU
    Verse:
    Somehow I’ve acquired a fondness
For 6’2” of handsome blondness.
And even though he’s nuts, I love him.
If your lover is insane
You’ll appreciate the pain
Of every little thing I give to
that nutty guy who does the things I go through
    Chorus:
    Though people who have an intelligence quo
May like to hold hands when they go to a show
You hold my feet though why I don’t know
Abnormal you!
Though plenty of people whose brains are in tune
May like to go out for a walk ‘neath the moon
You’d rather walk from dawn until noon
Abnormal you!
I would be so contented
If you were not so demented
I feel in disgrace
loving a mental case
Though most people marry and blithely ignore
the meaningless troubles that life holds in store.
You want an engagement of ten years or more!
Abnormal you!
    Second Chorus:
    Those who have long engagements
are usually few.
‘Cause when you’re in love
you just can’t see it through!
You want to marry
when we’re seventy-two!
Abnormal you!
The usual pattern
for nuptial rites
is groom in tuxedo
and bride all in whites.
You want the people
all dressed in tights!
Abnormal you!
        (I would be so contented, etc.)
I could go on
for a year if not more
about all the things
That I have to endure.
But, since I love you
I’ll have to ignore
Abnormal you! Yes !
Abnormal you !
Yes ! Abnormal you !
    *    *    *    *
    So I added the last line. I can’t believe that whoever sang it didn’t wind it up that way.
    I feel that there must also have been a heroine’s love song in Act One – and I may have written it. (The ms. date seems to verify this.)
RIGHT FROM THE START
    Verse:
    I