Words or Music . . . That Is the Question
by Harriet Schock People like to debate which is more important, music or lyrics. Lyricists love the story about Oscar Hammerstein’s wife, Dorothy, overhearing Jerome Kern’s wife insisting that Jerome Kern wrote “Ol’ Man River” and Dorothy said, “No, your husband wrote bom, bom, bom, bom, (5-5-6-1) . . . MY husband wrote ‘Ol’ Man …