Wee Small Hours Song Story
Wee Small Hours Song Story
Kind Thanks to Samuel B. Mann, son of David Mann, composer/songwriter of the song, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, for the story and photos he shares below. (Links follow)
Hi Karen,
Dad recalled the origins of the song many times, including to Jonathan Schwartz for radio use, various interviews and also to Chuck Granata another Sinatra expert you may know.
I've built a tribute Facebook Musician page for him you can see the link below as well.
On that page which you can follow, you will see the original manuscript with crossed out lyrics and other primary documents of that moment, typewritten lyrics on Bob Hilliard stationary etc.
Feel free to use them, attributable, in your work.
The story goes: Dad was playing poker and losing terribly at around three in the morning at the home of Bob Hilliard in Leonia New Jersey and he got fed up and wanted to go home, but Bob said why don't they write a song instead, despite the early hour. Dad being tired shrugged and said it's the wee small hours of the morning what the hell are we gonna write about now? And Bob said what about exactly that- the wee small hours, and they spent some time then and there working on a little progression dad had been already fiddling with, as my brother recalled. So after they got a couple of stanzas he folded the manuscript in six and stuck it into the inner pocket of the jacket he was wearing and he went home bleary-eyed. The next day he and Bob happen to be walking down Broadway to the Brill Building when a convertible passed them and screeched to a halt at the curb mere feet in front of them. Dad recognized Frank and particularly the driver, Nelson Riddle with whom he was roommates in the old Charlie Spivak orchestra. Riddle played trombone and dad played piano. Dad had also played on many early Sinatra records including "I Fall in Love Too Easily" so they knew each other and there was repartee. In an uncharacteristic move Frank was ebullient and asked if they had anything for him today in the way of songs. Dad and Bob looked at each other and dad reached into the very same coat he was wearing the night before and pulled out The lead sheet for this new song. They marched upstairs into a piano room and they played the song quietly. Frank reached over and locked the door and said, fellas, this is my kind of song. Little did they know at the time that Frank and Nelson were there at that very building to set the keys and tempos for a new album they were to record imminently. You know the rest, the song became the overarching theme of the entire record, title track, with the azure melancholy album cover, to be unveiled as the very first concept album of all time. But when no single was forthcoming dad and Bob were crestfallen because having a Sinatra single meant you were a made man in the songwriting business. At that time Dad had a handful of other hits such as "There I've Said It Again", which involves another miraculous story of luck and timing which I can tell you later. There was a four-song double forty five book edition issued, but the radio stations were not playing wee small hours as a single , and quickly with Frank's heartbreak over Ava Gardner , this song disappeared alltogether, and it is unknown if he ever performed it.....although he re-released it in 1963 on his own Reprise label. So it was not until the 90s when NASDAQ licensed a Wynton Marsalis instrumental of it and Nora Ephron cast the song as the theme of Sleepless in Seattle, did the song emerge as a juggernaut. Today there are over 500 covers on iTunes alone, and major artists regularly take a whack at the song. It just won a Grammy last year as best vocal arrangement, and Willie Nelson has just recorded it recently. My mother still lives off this song and many others.
Also note that the song we know today has an introductory verse which is not on the Sinatra record. The first appearance of the verse is on a Johnny Mathis cover later in the year. My mother happened to work in the Brill building for Redd Evans - another of my father's collaborators. They were trying to find my father to ask for a verse because the song was very short, but the details of this conversation are vague. Jonathan insists Mathis requested it and that would circumstantially makes sense, despite no written evidence. My father strenuously denied it was written specifically for Mathis, but since they could not locate Bob Hilliard, dad composed the verse entirely himself.
Samuel B Mann
Check out my music page:
https://Samuelmann.bandcamp.com
Check out mom's art pages :
Check out Dad's (David Mann) musician Facebook profile
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100031961546821