Sammy Cahn is one of the great American lyric writers of all time. The body of work that he did was staggering. It is impossible to list all of his hit songs, but here is a very small list of some of them.

“Three Coins In The Fountain” “All The Way” “Call Me Irresponsible” “The Second Time Around” “High Hopes” “My Kind Of Town” “The Tender Trap” “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry” “ Come Fly With Me” “Day By Day” “Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow” “Love And Marriage” “Saturday Night Is The Loneliest Night In The Week” “September Of My Years” “Teach Me Tonight” “Time After Time,” etc.

There are many more songs, but I just wanted to show a few of them. I think you can get the picture. I was lucky enough to write a few songs with Sammy, and a few TV themes as well. I also composed the melody to the last song that Sammy wrote. He loved the song. He would call me from New York and leave me messages about how much he really loved it. Sometimes he would call two or three times a day. I called him up one day and told him I had a melody I thought he would like. We made an appointment to meet at his house the next day at noon. He told me to go to Nate and Al’s deli (the famous deli of the stars) and bring him a sandwich. As I started to explain to the guy behind the counter what kind of sandwich I wanted, he said “are you going to Sammy Cahn’s house.” I broke out in laughter and asked how did you know? The guy said “I have made this sandwich for Sammy Cahn for thirty years. Then the guy said “I gave Sammy a melody that I wrote about fifteen years ago. Sammy listened to it and called me on the phone. I asked him what he thought of my melody? There was a long pause and then Sammy said “Tomorrow for lunch please don’t forget the pickles.” I got the message loud and clear.”

I really liked Sammy Cahn a lot. Sometimes we would just sit over lunch and he would tell me great stories about the music business. I remember inviting him out to lunch one day. I called him and asked if he wanted to have lunch and just chew the fat. He said “lunch sounds great, but as far as chewing the fat goes .. only if it’s chicken fat.” My relationship with Sammy Cahn is something I will cherish forever. I made him laugh, and he would crack me up. He was the best of the best.