Accentuating the Positive

We’ll be hearing a lot more from Johnny Mercer in the next several days.

The music of the fabled composer-lyricist, who died in 1976, figures prominently in the movie adaptation of John Berendt’s 1994 book, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” which is set in Mercer’s birthplace of Savannah, Ga.

Directed by Clint Eastwood and scheduled for release Friday, the murder-mystery boasts a soundtrack with Tony Bennett, k.d. lang, Joe Williams, Rosemary Clooney and others singing some of Mercer’s best-known songs and lyrics.

Eastwood emotes his way through the Mercer ditty “Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive,” and his daughter Alison Eastwood sings “Come Rain or Come Shine.”

And while Mercer’s music will share a spotlight with the intrigues and eccentric Southern personalities of “Midnight in the Garden,” it will be the sole focus of the Great American Music Company’s “An Evening With Johnny Mercer” on Monday in Dana Point.

The company--with vocalists Stephanie Haynes and Dewey Erney, pianist Dick Shreve, drummer Jimmy Ford and bassist-arranger Jack Prather--has explored the music of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and others. “But Mercer is the only lyricist that we’ve built a show around,” Prather said. “He’s one of the truly great American poets.”

Prather cites the Mercer lyrics of “Skylark” (with music by Hoagy Carmichael) and “Midnight Sun” (sung by Diana Krall in the new movie) as proof of his poesy. “His words to ‘Hooray for Hollywood’ are so very pithy and sarcastic. The line ‘With any luck, you could be Donald Duck’ has a wonderful sarcasm to it. It’s always great to see the Academy Awards show open with that tongue-in-cheek lyric.”

Mercer, who would have been 88 on Tuesday, spent many years in Los Angeles working in the film industry and, in his final years, had a home in the Lido section of Newport Beach.

“I once saw him at a place called Boondocks in Newport Beach one Sunday afternoon in the early ‘70s,” Prather recalled. “[OC-based pianist-composer] Mark Davidson brought him in for a performance with a piano player, and he did an afternoon of his songs. It reminded me how good he was as a stand-up singer.”

Prather particularly admires the lyricist’s way with colloquialisms. “Songs like ‘In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening,’ ‘Jeepers Creepers,’ ‘Goody, Goody’ all use slang in a charming fashion. He was a craftsman of the language. Singers can’t always say why they like certain material, but he put lyrics together so beautifully. All the vowels are in the right places. His lyrics are eminently singable.

“Unlike Larry Hart or Oscar Hammerstein, Mercer worked with so many different people, a Who’s Who of composers: Harry Warren, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, Jerome Kern and, in his later days, Henry Mancini. And there was always a jazz connection. He started out as a singer with the Paul Whiteman band, and he sang with Benny Goodman’s band. One of the last songs he wrote, ‘Blossom,’ was a collaboration with [jazz pianist] Jimmie Rowles.”

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Ultimately, Prather sees Mercer as a melancholy figure whose music always reflected his roots in Savannah.

“He came across as a charming Southern gentleman, but with a certain wistfulness,” Prather said. “There’s this yearning for his past, perhaps his childhood, in a lot of the songs. ‘Moon River’ is like that, and so is ‘I Thought About You.’ His music will be very fitting to the mood of the film [‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’].”

Prather, who weaves history and anecdotes through every Great American Music Company evening, says this presentation will be especially respectful.

“We do medleys, but we make sure they contain the full songs. We’ll present the verses. We won’t do anything superficially. We won’t run over the songs in presenting them.”

* The Great American Music Company presents “An Evening With Johnny Mercer” on Monday at DeMario’s Restaurant, 17 Monarch Bay Plaza, Dana Point. 7:30 p.m. $9, $10 food minimum. (714) 240-9436.