Illustration from Walter Crane's Baby's Own Aesop, 1887
When I saw that Brill Building songwriter (and half of the Pockriss & Vance songwriting team) Lee Pockriss had passed away at the age of 87, the name initially didn't ring a bell. But, as is typical of those Brill Building guys, it only took a little research to find that he'd written some of really high-quality music. Of course, every obit cited "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", his one ubiquitous composition and one I've known since childhood, but, for a writer best known for composing novelties, he was responsible for a lot of other great songs too.
"My Little Corner of the World" is a top-notch song - I like the original Anita Bryant version, but my favorite is the one on Yo La Tengo's I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One. I'm a also big fan of "I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do", which was sung by many singers including Jackie DeShannon. He was responsible for the music from The Phantom Tollbooth, a movie that blew my mind as a child. And recently, I discovered "In My Room", originally performed by the Walker Brothers but also included on Nancy Sinatra's Boots. It's a thick slice of Walkers-style melodrama, but Pockriss's composition is versatile enough that Sinatra can pull it off pretty convincingly.
"In My Room" by Nancy Sinatra
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