The following was written by Nick Clooney (George's father and Rosemary's brother) who writes a column in Cincinnati.

Rosie's 'October' a Song to Savor
Cincinnati Post - November 30, 2005

The question comes up every few weeks. The most recent occasion was a movie premiere in New York earlier this month. Nina and I were talking to a couple and the woman asked me, "Which is your favorite of your sister's recordings?"

It is an appropriate question to ask Rosemary Clooney's brother, but it stumps me every time.

In Rosemary's early work, her hits were fun. I loved the Duke Ellington "Blue Rose" collaboration and her Oscar songs album with Harry James.

When I was in the Army in the mid-1950s, she recorded "We'll Be Together Again," and at Fort Knox we called it "AWOL music." I also thought her single of "I've Grown Accustomed to His Face" was the epitome of how a unique voice, unadorned, could meld with a good song and produce a superlative result.

Important as all those early recordings were to Rosemary and to the rest of the family -- I found her second career more interesting.

Her association with the jazz label Concord Records from the 1980s until her death resulted in more than two dozen CDs. That body of work shows anyone who cares to listen the maturing of a great artist. She takes the efforts of the best
popular songwriters of all time and makes their music and lyrics better than the sum of their parts. She elevates them all and does it with no artifice.

So which among them is my favorite? I don't know. But there is one that never fails to move me, so much so that I play it sparingly. I find that emotional capital is finite and must be husbanded as I age.

"And when October goes,
The snow begins to fly.
Above the smoky roofs,
I watch the planes go by."
When the peerless lyricist Johnny Mercer died, he left behind a box filled with titles,
fragments of verse and a few complete poems. This was one of the latter.

"The children running home
Beneath the twilight sky.
Oh for the fun of them,
When I was one of them."

Johnny's widow showed these words to one of Johnny's great admirers, Barry Manilow.

"And when October goes,
The same old dream appears,
And you are in my arms,
To share the happy years."

Barry was moved by what he read and asked Mrs. Mercer if he could take a shot at
putting music to the words. We should remember that Johnny had written lyrics for the
likes of Jerome Kern, Hoagy Carmichael, Jimmy Van Heusen, Harold Arlen, Harry
Warren and Henry Mancini. He had also written melodies himself to hits such as
"Dream" and "Something's Got to Give." In other words, Barry's was not a small request.

But Mrs. Mercer knew something about Barry that many critics did not. He has enormous
respect for American popular music and its history. And he has a wealth of talent. The
result, in my opinion, was his best melody, one that fit the bittersweet lyric perfectly.

"I turn my head away
To hide the helpless tears.
Oh how I hate to see October go.
I should be over it now, I know.
It doesn't matter much how old I grow.
I hate to see October go."

Rosemary was a friend of both Mrs. Mercer and Mr. Manilow, so it was no
surprise the song was brought to her attention. She added it to her
nightclub and concert performances. In 1987, her Concord album was "Rosemary
Clooney Sings the Lyrics of Johnny Mercer." Cut six is "When October Goes."
I'm playing it now.

Rosemary finds the center of those Mercer words and those Manilow notes and
creates a latter-day "September Song." Play it. But not too often.

Seen, Heard >>
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