A
Lyr ical
Life
Songwriting couple
looks back on
the way they were
On University Day last October, Alan
Bergman ’ 48 returned to UNC with his wife
and songwriting partner, Marilyn, to receive a
Distinguished Alumnus Award. The Bergmans
were feted for lyrics that are so familiar it’s easy
to forget someone actually struggled to compose
them. The list includes Frank Sinatra’s Nice ’n’
Easy, Fred Astaire’s You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,
Ray Charles’ In the Heat of the Night and Barbra
Streisand’s The Way We Were.
The Bergmans became a team after meeting
in Los Angeles, where they both were writing
lyrics for songwriter Lew Spence. But they were
born in the same hospital in Brooklyn and grew
up there. Alan Bergman says that’s where the
music began.
“You have to understand that when you
were Jewish in Brooklyn, you took piano les-
sons,” Bergman says. “That was automatic.”
Bergman also soon got his introduction to
musical theater. “When I was 9 years old I saw
the original Porgy and Bess with Todd Duncan
[Porgy] and John Bubbles [Sportin’ Life]. My
seat was way in the back.” His family also
attended free children’s concerts by the New
York Philharmonic.
Of course, there was Carnegie Hall. “I
remember the day my brother said we were
going to Carnegie Hall on a Sunday night. That
was 1938. We sat in the third balcony and saw
the famous Benny Goodman concert.” He
PHOTOS COURTESY MARILYN BERGMAN AND ALAN BERGMAN ’ 48
Alan Bergman ’ 48,
flanked above by UNC
classmates Richard
Wallack ’ 49, left, and
Howard Aronson ’ 48, said
he came to UNC because
of its long history and
music scene. He and his
wife, Marilyn, have been
writing songs for more
than six decades.
learned how to get in to see
a lot of other shows. “When
I got to be a teenager, I
would go stand outside the
theaters and go in at inter-
mission. I saw a lot of sec-
ond acts.”
Bergman said he found
his way to UNC because
“I’d never been out of
Brooklyn. The idea of being
in the oldest state university
in the country appealed to me. And there was
the musical group, Sound and Fury. The first
night I was there, I walked down Franklin Street
and there was a coffee house and I went in, and
there was a round table, and sitting at it were
Carl Sandburg and Betty Smith and Kenneth
Koch [head of Carolina Playmakers], and I kind
of eavesdropped. And Paul Green [’ 21] was
there. I said, ‘Wow, I’m in the right place.’ ”
Bergman moved to California after college.
He met Marilyn, and they worked with men-
tors, including Johnny Mercer, and immersed
themselves in stylists such as Hoagy Carmichael.
Bergman’s heroes are all lyrical storytellers. “For
every song you write, go listen to Irving Berlin,
Johnny Mercer, and Lerner and Loewe,”
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January/February 2012
