Bob Hilliard (born Hilliard Goldsmith; January 28, 1918 – February 1, 1971) was an American

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

. He wrote the words for the songs: "

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

", " In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", " Any Day Now", " Dear Hearts and Gentle People", " Our Day Will Come", " My Little Corner of the World", " Tower of Strength" and " Seven Little Girls (Sitting in the Back Seat)".

Career

After finishing high school, Hilliard began working as a

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...

. At the age of 28 he had his first success with " The Coffee Song". During his Broadway years, Hilliard wrote successful scores for both ''

Angel in the Wings ''Angel in the Wings'' is a 1947 musical revue with songs by Bob Hilliard and Carl Sigman and sketches by Hank Ladd, Ted Luce, Paul Hartman, and Grace Hartman. History In addition to contributing sketches, the Hartmans headlined the original ...

'' (1947) and '' Hazel Flagg'' (1953). He also worked as lyricist of the

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

for ''

'' (1951). This included providing the words to the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

, as well as "I'm Late" and the unused Cheshire Cat song "I'm Odd." The 1954

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

'' Living It Up'' included his songs "Money Burns a Hole in My Pocket" and "That's What I Like." Hilliard had later success as co-composer of the 1960s classic " Our Day Will Come." The

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

was a No. 1 hit on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

in 1963 for Ruby & the Romantics. In 1968, he also co-wrote "You Make Me Think About You" with Robert Mersey, the instrumental version of which was included in

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...

's final

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, '' With Six You Get Eggroll,'' but Doris Day did not sing the vocal version. That version was sung by

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer. Starting his 69-year career with singles of standard (music), standard music, Mathis is one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century and became highly popular as ...

. Mathis's single (arranged and conducted by Mersey) was released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. The single peaked at 35 on ''Billboard''s Easy Listening Chart. Hilliard worked as lyricist and composer with a number of other

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

s and lyricists over the decades, including

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

, Carl Sigman,

Jule Styne Jule Styne ( ; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer widely known for a series of Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musicals, including several famous frequ ...

Mort Garson Morton Sanford Garson (20 July 1924 – 4 January 2008) was a Canadian composer, arranger, songwriter, and pioneer of electronic music. He is best known for his albums in the 1960s and 1970s, such as '' Mother Earth's Plantasia'' (1976). He also ...

, Sammy Mysels, Dick Sanford (''né'' Richard Young Sandford; 1896–1981), Milton DeLugg, Philip Springer, Lee Pockriss and

Sammy Fain Sammy Fain (born Samuel E. Feinberg; June 17, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American composer of popular music. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he contributed numerous songs that form part of The Great American Songbook, and to Broadway theatr ...

Death

Hilliard died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at his Hollywood home on February 1, 1971, at the age of 53. He was survived by his wife, Jacqueline Dalya.

Awards and honors

Hilliard was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

inducted into the

Songwriters Hall of Fame The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work represent and maintain the heri ...

in 1983.

Song credits

Between the mid-1940s and the early 1960s, Hilliard co-wrote such hits as:

References

External links

* *
Bob Hilliard
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilliard, Bob 1918 births 1971 deaths Songwriters from New York (state) American lyricists Jewish American songwriters Musicians from New York City Writers from New York City 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American songwriters