Arthur Hamilton obit

Arthur Hamilton, songwriter of ‘Cry Me a River’ torch classic, dies at 98

Mr. Hamilton’s hits also included “Sing a Rainbow,” which was written as a haunting lament of broken dreams but found a parallel life as a children’s tune. 

He was not on the list.

Arthur Hamilton, an Oscar-nominated songwriter who helped revive the torch singer genre in the 1950s with the smoldering “Cry Me a River” and whose “Sing a Rainbow” became a childhood staple even though it was initially crafted as a haunting lament, has died at age 98.

The death was announced in a statement on June 4 by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, but no other details were given.

Mr. Hamilton’s contributions to the Great American Songbook were greatly shaped by the cinema-driven world of his upbringing in Hollywood, where his parents occasionally collaborated on songs for movies including the vaudevillian musical “Wake Up and Dream” (1934).

As a young songwriter, Mr. Hamilton said he liked to imagine how his songs might appear on the big screen. He also studied musical mood and inflection at a club in Beverly Hills by listening to cabaret master Bobby Short do his interpretations of songs by Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin and others.

“I told people many times, ‘I never went to college, I went to Bobby Short,’ ” Mr. Hamilton said in a 2016 interview on “The Paul Leslie Hour” podcast.

Some of Mr. Hamilton’s first professional credits were for songs in a television musical on KTTV in Los Angeles in the late 1940s. He next ended up in a partnership with actor-director Jack Webb, star of the cop drama “Dragnet” during its first TV run in the 1950s. Webb needed songs for a film he was directing, “Pete Kelly’s Blues,” that also featured him in the lead role as a Prohibition-era cornet player under pressure from the mob.

The soundtrack for the 1955 movie includes two songs by Mr. Hamilton sung by Peggy Lee, who played an alcoholic jazz singer. In Mr. Hamilton’s “He Needs Me,” Lee sings about a tortured romance. In “Sing a Rainbow,” Lee’s character looks back wistfully at her diminished career and bad choices.

Red and yellow and pink and gree 

Purple and orange and blue

I can sing a rainbow,

sing a rainbow,

sing a rainbow too.

Mr. Hamilton said the idea for the song came from a telegram he once sent Lee before she opened at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, encouraging her to “sing a rainbow.”

“So I wrote that song,” he said in the podcast interview. “And it was so simple. I was almost embarrassed to show it to Jack [Webb] when I played it for him, and he said, ‘That’s it.’ ” When Mr. Hamilton played the song for Lee, she cried, he recalled. The song later developed a parallel life on countless children’s shows as a cheery ditty.

A third song for the film — “Cry Me a River” sung by Ella Fitzgerald, about a coldhearted rebuke to a former lover — was dropped by Webb although she remained in the film. The reasons for Webb’s decision on the song remained unclear. Yet gossip columnists were abuzz when Mr. Hamilton let his longtime friend and Webb’s ex-wife, actress-singer Julie London, release the song on her first album, “Julie Is Her Name” (1955).

The single was a hit, on its way to selling more than 3 million copies worldwide. “Backed only by a jazzy guitar and bass,” wrote music reviewer Kenneth Wright in the Herald newspaper in Glasgow. “London’s breathy, soulful performance encapsulated the feelings of a million spurned lovers and their daydreams of romantic revenge.”

The song reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and gained a wider audience as part of the soundtrack in the 1956 comedy “The Girl Can’t Help It,” starring Jayne Mansfield. Fitzgerald released her version of the song in 1961 on the album “Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!” (Justin Timberlake’s 2002 dance track, “Cry Me a River,” has only the title in common with Mr. Hamilton’s song.)

Mr. Hamilton’s “Cry Me a River” helped renew appreciation for the torch-singing elegies of lost love or unrequited passions. The song was reinterpreted dozens of times by performers including Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Harry Connick Jr., Susan Boyle and Joe Cocker.

Canadian crooner Michael Bublé opened concerts with “Cry Me a River” and in 2009 performed the song before Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. “These are songs that just come along once in a lifetime,” Bublé told the Wall Street Journal in 2010.

Now you say you're lonely

You cry the whole night through

Well, you can cry me a river

Cry me a river

I cried a river over you

The song title was adopted in the language as shorthand for uncaring detachment. Mr. Hamilton said he never tired of hearing the phrase in movies or seeing it in newspaper quotes.

“I just liked the combination of words,” he recounted. “Instead of ‘Eat your heart out’ or ‘I’ll get even with you,’ it sounded like a good, smart retort to somebody who had hurt your feelings or broken your heart.”

Yet, as he was writing the song, he had moments of doubt. He worried that the phrase might sound too much like “Crimea River,” a particularly off-putting phonic overlap during the Cold War. He also wondered whether he was going too far by using the word “plebeian” in the lyrics — “You told me love was too plebeian/Told me you were through with me and/Now you say you love me.”

“I’ve never liked the rhyme of ‘plebeian’ with ‘me ‘n,’” Mr. Hamilton said, “but I think you can pull it off by delivering it with a sneer.”

Oscar nomination

Mr. Hamilton was born Arthur Hamilton Stern in Seattle on Oct. 22, 1926, and moved as an infant to Los Angeles with his parents.

His father, songwriter Jack Stern, worked on scores for films including the romantic comedy “Sweetheart of the Navy” (1937). His mother, actress Grace Hamilton, sometimes helped write song lyrics with her husband.

“There were always at least two or three pianos in the house at all times,” Mr. Hamilton recalled, “and there was no other place for me to go except for the piano.” He said he was always scribbling down possible song lyrics — even on scraps of prescription forms when he worked delivering orders for a pharmacy.

In 1971, the song “Till Love Touches Your Life” — with lyrics by Mr. Hamilton and music by Riz Ortolani — from the Western “Madron” (1970) received an Academy Award nomination for the best original song for a picture.

“Cry Me a River” was added to the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in 2015. “It’s only a thimbleful of a voice,” London once said her rendition. “But it is a kind of oversmoked voice, and it automatically sounds intimate.”

Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.

The phrase “Cry Me a River” became so embedded in the English language that some English students decided to literally test it. Two natural sciences undergrads at the University of Leicester in 2016 calculated whether a good sob by everyone in the world at the same time would be enough to fill the 200-foot-long Roe River in Montana.

Not even close, they told the Daily Telegraph. Maybe, they added, there would be enough tears for a swimming pool.

Michael Bublé in Michael Bublé: Cry Me a River (2010)

Michael Bublé: Cry Me a River

Music Video

Composer

2010

 

Music Department

Kristin Cassidy in Barbra Streisand: Cry Me a River (Live at the Bon Soir) (2022)

Barbra Streisand: Cry Me a River (Live at the Bon Soir)

8.2

Music Video

songwriter: "Cry Me A River"

2022

 

Carolyn Cable Show (2009)

Carolyn Cable Show

TV Series

end credits

2009

 

Laura Linney and Joanne Woodward in Blind Spot (1993)

Blind Spot

5.9

TV Movie

lyricist

1993

 

La salación (1965)

La salación

composer: song "Cry Me a River"

1965

 

Guestward Ho! (1960)

Guestward Ho!

7.6

TV Series

composer: theme music

1960

1 episode

 

Jack Webb in Dragnet (1951)

Dragnet

7.5

TV Series

song: music and lyrics by

1955

1 episode

 

Thanks

I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special (2001)

I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special

7.1

TV Special

special thanks

2001

 

Soundtrack

She's the One (2024)

She's the One

8.5

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2024

 

Kristin Cassidy in Barbra Streisand: Cry Me a River (Live at the Bon Soir) (2022)

Barbra Streisand: Cry Me a River (Live at the Bon Soir)

8.2

Music Video

writer: "Cry Me A River (Live at the Bon Soir, Greenwich Village, NYC - Nov. 5, 1962)"

2022

 

Nice Jazz Festival (2020)

Nice Jazz Festival

TV Special

lyrics: "Cry Me A River"music: "Cry Me A River"

2020

 

Sam Worthington in Fractured (2019)

Fractured

6.5

writer: "Sing a Rainbow"

2019

 

Kyle Ralvin, Jazzy Pedreno, Paul Rosa, Chloe Redondo, Jayper Palma, Gia Marie Vecino, Melody Hodgson, Sean Karl Caleja, Hans Rocel, Zandra Pateres, Alfred Bogabil, Czyle David, Angel Dominice, Xandrex Arellano, Meleena Santos, Arnold Amaro, Naya Ambi, Molly Langley, Vin Rimas, Tau Castro, Avrene Lucas, Rhian Robosa, Aljay Bacalso, and Luis Gragera in The Clash (2018)

The Clash

7.4

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2019

1 episode

 

Steven Silver in The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (2019)

The Obituary of Tunde Johnson

5.7

writer: "He Needs Me"

2019

 

Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale (2017)

The Handmaid's Tale

8.3

TV Series

writer: "Rain Sometimes"

2018

1 episode

 

Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators (2018)

Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators

7.6

TV Series

writer: "I Can Sing a Rainbow,"

2018

1 episode

 

Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

8.7

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me A River" (uncredited)

2017

1 episode

 

Boy George, Kelly Rowland, Seal, and Delta Goodrem in The Voice (2012)

The Voice

5.2

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me A River"

2016

1 episode

 

RocKwiz (2005)

RocKwiz

7.7

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me A River" (uncredited)

2015

1 episode

 

Sam Elliott, Blythe Danner, Mary Kay Place, Malin Akerman, Rhea Perlman, Martin Starr, and June Squibb in I'll See You in My Dreams (2015)

I'll See You in My Dreams

6.7

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2015

 

The Voice UK (2012)

The Voice UK

5.6

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2012–2014

2 episodes

 

Alun Armstrong, James Bolam, Amanda Redman, and Dennis Waterman in New Tricks (2003)

New Tricks

8.0

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me A River" (uncredited)

2013

1 episode

 

Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, One Direction, and Louis Tomlinson in One Direction: This Is Us (2013)

One Direction: This Is Us

4.4

writer: "Cry Me A River"

2013

 

The Mark of Beauty (2006)

The Mark of Beauty

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me A River"

2013

1 episode

 

Ryan O'Shaughnessy, Shaheen Jafargholi, Francine Lewis, Tobias Mead, Kieran Gaffney, Kevin Cruise, Connected, Lorna Bliss, Ronan Parke, Steven Hall, Jack Carroll, Dennis Egel, Sam Kelly, Ashley Elliott, Loveable Rogues, Chica Latina, Kai & Natalia, Molly Rainford, Richard & Adam, Asanda Jezile, and Pre-Skool in Britain's Got Talent (2007)

Britain's Got Talent

5.8

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River" (uncredited)

2011

1 episode

 

Dermot O'Leary, Sharon Osbourne, Nicole Scherzinger, Simon Cowell, and Louis Walsh in The X Factor UK (2004)

The X Factor UK

4.4

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2009–2010

2 episodes

 

Michael Bublé in Michael Bublé: Cry Me a River (2010)

Michael Bublé: Cry Me a River

Music Video

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2010

 

One Night Only: Barbra Streisand and Quartet at the Village Vanguard - September 26, 2009 (2010)

One Night Only: Barbra Streisand and Quartet at the Village Vanguard - September 26, 2009

7.9

Video

writer: "Cry Me A River"

2010

 

Jude Law and Forest Whitaker in Repo Men (2010)

Repo Men

6.3

writer: "Cry Me A River"

2010

 

Cesko Slovenská SuperStar (2009)

Cesko Slovenská SuperStar

2.8

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me A River"

2009

1 episode

 

So You Think You Can Dance Canada (2008)

So You Think You Can Dance Canada

5.9

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2008

1 episode

 

The Choir: Boys Don't Sing

8.7

TV Mini Series

writer: "Cry Me a River" (uncredited)

2008

1 episode

 

Olivia Newton-John and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Live at the Sydney Opera House (2007)

Olivia Newton-John and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Live at the Sydney Opera House

8.7

TV Special

writer: "Cry Me A River"

2007

 

Cat Deeley, Matthew Morrison, Stephen Boss, and JoJo Siwa in So You Think You Can Dance (2005)

So You Think You Can Dance

7.0

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me A River"

2007

1 episode

 

1000 Years of Popular Music

7.8

Video

writer: "Cry Me a River" (1953)

2006

 

Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving in V for Vendetta (2005)

V for Vendetta

8.1

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2005

 

Harry Connick Jr., Kyle Sandilands, Meghan Trainor, and Amy Shark in Australian Idol (2003)

Australian Idol

4.1

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2005

1 episode

 

Jill Hennessy in Crossing Jordan (2001)

Crossing Jordan

7.0

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me A River" (uncredited)

2005

1 episode

 

Cold Chisel Ringside

9.7

Video

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2004

 

Pop Idol (2001)

Pop Idol

3.4

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2003

1 episode

 

The Blues (2003)

The Blues

8.0

TV Mini Series

writer: "Cry Me A River"

2003

1 episode

 

Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman in The Human Stain (2003)

The Human Stain

6.2

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2003

 

Antikiller (2002)

Antikiller

5.5

writer: "Cry me a River"

2002

 

Un paso adelante (2002)

Un paso adelante

6.3

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2002

1 episode

 

Lime (2001)

Lime

4.6

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2001

 

Demi Moore, William Fichtner, and Stellan Skarsgård in Passion of Mind (2000)

Passion of Mind

5.5

writer: "Cry Me a River"

2000

 

Rakkaudella, Maire (1999)

Rakkaudella, Maire

6.6

writer: "Cry Me A River/Joet tulvimaan itke"

1999

 

McCallum (1995)

McCallum

7.6

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me A River"

1995–1998

 

The Corpse Had a Familiar Face (1994)

The Corpse Had a Familiar Face

5.6

TV Movie

lyrics: "Something Is Out There"

1994

 

Tales of the City (1993)

Tales of the City

8.3

TV Mini Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

1993

1 episode

 

Don Michael Paul in Rich Girl (1991)

Rich Girl

5.7

writer: "The Miranda Rap"

1991

 

Molly Ringwald and Robert Lindsay in Strike It Rich (1990)

Strike It Rich

4.8

writer: "Cry Me a River" (uncredited)

1990

 

A Whisper to a Scream (1989)

A Whisper to a Scream

4.0

writer: "Makin' Your Mark"

1989

 

Joanne Whalley in Scandal (1989)

Scandal

6.4

writer: "Cry Me a River" (uncredited)

1989

 

Tabu (1986)

Tabu

7.8

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

1987

1 episode

 

Champs-Elysées (1982)

Champs-Elysées

6.6

TV Series

lyrics: "Pleurer des Rivières" (Cry Me a River)music: "Pleurer des Rivières" (Cry Me a River)

1987

1 episode

 

Debbie Allen, Lee Curreri, Cynthia Gibb, Erica Gimpel, Bill Hufsey, Carlo Imperato, Valerie Landsburg, and Gene Anthony Ray in Fame (1982)

Fame

7.1

TV Series

lyrics: "Sing A Rainbow"music: "Sing A Rainbow" (uncredited)

1984

1 episode

 

Caren Kaye and Matt Lattanzi in My Tutor (1983)

My Tutor

5.2

lyrics: "The First Time We Make Love", "Now You Must Pay", "You're My Tutor"

1983

 

Johnny Carson in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

8.5

TV Series

writer: "Rain Sometimes"

1979

1 episode

 

Barry Nelson and Mason Reese in Mason (1977)

Mason

6.5

TV Movie

Soundtrack ("Suddenly the Child's a Man", "Mason Knows")

1977

 

Richard Jaeckel, Joe Dorsey, Christopher George, Mary Ann Hearn, Joan McCall, and Andrew Prine in Grizzly (1976)

Grizzly

5.2

lyrics: "What Makes a Man a Man?" (uncredited)

1976

 

Cilla Black in Cilla (1968)

Cilla

6.9

TV Series

writer: "Sing a Rainbow"

1976

1 episode

 

Seven Alone (1974)

Seven Alone

5.5

Soundtrack ("Only a Dream Away")

1974

 

Angus Duncan in How to Seduce a Woman (1974)

How to Seduce a Woman

4.7

lyrics: "Song From How To Seduce A Woman"

1974

 

England Made Me (1973)

England Made Me

5.9

lyrics: "REMEMBERING"

1973

 

Stanley Bates, Geoffrey Hayes, and Roy Skelton in Rainbow (1972)

Rainbow

6.9

TV Series

writer: "I Can Sing a Rainbow"

1972

1 episode

 

The 43rd Annual Academy Awards (1971)

The 43rd Annual Academy Awards

6.4

TV Special

writer: "Till Love Touches Your Life"

1971

 

Madron (1970)

Madron

5.2

lyrics: "Till Love Touches Your Life"

1970

 

Bea Benaderet, Edgar Buchanan, Smiley Burnette, Frank Cady, Rufe Davis, Linda Henning, Gunilla Hutton, Meredith MacRae, Mike Minor, Jeannine Riley, Lori Saunders, and Pat Woodell in Petticoat Junction (1963)

Petticoat Junction

7.0

TV Series

writer: "I Can Sing a Rainbow" (uncredited)

1970

1 episode

 

La salación (1965)

La salación

writer: "Cry me a river"

1965

 

Craig Stevens in Peter Gunn (1958)

Peter Gunn

8.0

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

1961

1 episode

 

Bobby Darin and Friends (1961)

Bobby Darin and Friends

7.8

TV Special

writer: "Cry Me a River" (uncredited)

1961

 

Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita in The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956)

The Steve Allen Plymouth Show

8.4

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River" (uncredited)

1960

1 episode

 

The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (1956)

The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show

7.8

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

1958

1 episode

 

The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957)

The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour

8.3

TV Series

writer: "The Bayamo"

1958

1 episode

 

Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Sterling Hayden, and Peggy King in Zero Hour! (1957)

Zero Hour!

6.6

writer: "Zero Hour"

1957

 

Tom Ewell and Jayne Mansfield in The Girl Can't Help It (1956)

The Girl Can't Help It

6.8

writer: "Cry Me a River" (uncredited)

1956

 

The Vic Damone Show

TV Series

writer: "Cry Me a River"

1956

1 episode

 

Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)

Pete Kelly's Blues

6.3

writer: "He Needs Me", "Sing a Rainbow"

1955

 

Jack Webb in Dragnet (1951)

Dragnet

7.5

TV Series

Soundtrack ("Any Questions")

1955

1 episode

 

Self

2006 Billboard Latin Music Awards

7.9

TV Special

Self

2006