Pop Goes the Orchestra-Part VI

Mitchell Parish

Rodgers had Hammerstein. George had Ira. Loewe had Lerner. In the case of Leroy Anderson, he had Mitchell Parish.

Anderson's pieces and his recordings during the fifties conducting a studio orchestra were immense commercial successes. As mentioned in yesterday's blog, Blue Tango was the first instrumental recording ever to sell one million copies. His most famous pieces are probably Sleigh Ride and The Syncopated Clock, both of which are instantly recognizable to millions of people.  Mitchell Parish added words to tunes such as Syncopated Clock, Sleigh Ride and Blue Tango. Much of the success of these pieces, especially Sleigh Ride, may be credited to Parish's clever lyrics.

Mitchell Parish was born on July 10, 1900 to Michael Hyman Pashelinsky to a Jewish family in Lithuania. His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 on the SS Dresden when he was less than a year old. They settled first in Louisiana, where his paternal grandmother had relatives, but later moved to New York City.

By the late 1920s Parish was a well regarded Tin Pan Alley lyricist in New York City. Besides writing the lyrics to the aforementioned Anderson compositions, he also penned the lyrics to songs such as Star Dust, Sweet Lorraine, Deep Purple, Stars Fell on Alabama, Sophisticated Lady, Volare (English lyrics), Moonlight Serenade, One Morning in May, and Louisiana Fairy Tale, which was the first theme song used in the PBS production of This Old House.

Mitchell Parish died on March 31,1993 in Manhattan at the age of 92. He was buried in Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, New York.

Watch Leroy Anderson sing Mitchell Parish's lyrics to his composition, The Waltzing Cat (sung at Anderson's home in Woodbury, CT).