Dory Previn
Encyclopedia
Dory Previn, née Dorothy Veronica Langan (born October 22, 1925 or 1929), is an American
lyricist
, singer-songwriter
and poet
.
During the late 1950s and 1960s she was a lyricist for motion picture songs, and with her first husband André Previn
received several Academy Award
nominations. In the 1970s, after their divorce, she released six album
s of original songs and an acclaimed live album. Dory Previn's lyrics from this period are characterised by their originality, their irony, and their honesty in dealing with her troubled personal life, as well as more generally about relationships, sexuality, religion and psychology. She has continued to work since then as a writer of song lyrics and prose.
, the eldest daughter in a strict Catholic family of Irish
origin. She had a troubled relationship with her father, especially during childhood. He had served in the First World War and been gassed
, which led to periods of depression and violent mood swings. He tended to alternately embrace and reject Dory, but supported her when she began to show talents for singing and dancing. However, his mental health deteriorated after the birth of a second daughter, culminating in a paranoid episode in which he boarded the family up in their home and held them at gunpoint for several months. Dory’s childhood experiences, described in her autobiography Midnight Baby, had a profound effect on her later life and work.
After high school, Dory attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
for a year before having to leave due to financial difficulties. She then toured as a chorus line dancer and singer, and started to write songs. She later wrote, "I have been an actress, model, and chorus girl. I've worked at odd jobs - secretary, salesgirl, accounting in a filling station, waitress - anything to keep me going while I pursued my writing." At this time, she entered a brief first marriage which ended in divorce soon after.
. In 1958, as Dory Langdon, she recorded an album of her songs, The Leprechauns Are Upon Me
, with Previn and Kenny Burrell
accompanying her, for Verve Records
.
She and Previn married in 1959. The couple collaborated on a number of songs used in motion pictures, including "The Faraway Part Of Town" sung in the film Pepe
by Judy Garland
, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song in 1960. In 1961 they wrote "One, Two, Three Waltz" for the movie One, Two, Three
, and in 1962 wrote "A Second Chance" for the movie Two For The Seesaw, which won them a second Oscar nomination. They also wrote non-movie songs recorded by Doris Day
, Jack Jones
, Bobby Darin
, Sammy Davis Jr., and others. In 1964, Dory Previn collaborated with Harold Arlen
on "So Long, Big Time!," which was recorded by Tony Bennett
. Later in 1966, the song was covered by Carola, accompanied by Heikki Sarmanto Trio.
By the mid-1960s, André Previn had become a classical music conductor, touring worldwide. Dory had a morbid fear of air travel and did not join him. In 1965 Dory Previn's mental health deteriorated, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was briefly institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital. However, she continued to write with her husband, on songs including "You're Gonna Hear From Me" recorded by Frank Sinatra
, and began to use the name Dory Previn professionally. In 1967, they wrote five songs for the movie Valley of the Dolls
. The soundtrack album spent six months in the charts, and Dionne Warwick
had a pop hit with her version of the theme song. In 1968, Dory wrote a new English libretto
for Mozart’s opera
The Impresario. The following year she won a third Oscar nomination for "Come Saturday Morning
," with music by Fred Karlin
, from the movie The Sterile Cuckoo
. A hit version was recorded by The Sandpipers
.
In 1968 André Previn had fully transitioned from composing film scores to conducting symphony orchestras, most notably the London Symphony Orchestra
. While in London he began an affair with the then 24-year-old actress Mia Farrow
who was working on the film A Dandy in Aspic
. In the spring of 1969 Dory discovered that Farrow had become pregnant, compelling her to separate from her husband. Their divorce became final in July 1970 - André Previn subsequently married Farrow. This betrayal led to Dory being institutionalised again, where she was treated with electroconvulsive therapy
. The treatment seemed to change her outlook as a songwriter, making her more introspective. She subsequently expressed her feelings regarding Farrow, and the end of her marriage in the song "Beware of Young Girls," featured on her 1970 album On My Way to Where
, featuring some acerbic, amusing and insightful lyrics, as can be seen in the excerpts below:
"Beware of young girls who come to your door,
Wistful and pale, twenty and four,
Delivering daisies with delicate hands.
Beware of young girls, too often they crave,
To cry at a wedding...and dance on a grave."
"She was my friend, my friend, my friend.
She was invited to my house, oh yes she was,
And although she knew my love was true, and no ordinary thing,
She admired my wedding ring, she admired my wedding ring."
"We were friends, oh yes we were,
And she just took him from my life, oh yes she did.
So young and vain, she brought me pain, but I'm wise enough to say,
She will leave him one thoughtless day, she'll just leave him and go away, oh yes."
In 1970 she signed as a solo artist with the Mediarts company founded by Alan Livingston
and Nik Venet, and recorded her first album for 12 years, On My Way To Where
. Much of the album, which like several subsequent albums was produced by Venet, deals with her experiences in the late 1960s. "Mister Whisper" examines episodes of psychosis
from within the confines of a psychiatric hospital, while "Beware of Young Girls" is a scathing attack on Mia Farrow
and her motives for befriending the Previns. (Farrow belatedly apologized to Dory in her memoir What Falls Away). The track "With My Daddy in the Attic" is a chilling piece dealing with Stockholm Syndrome
and fantasies of incest
. The album's lyrics were published in book form in 1971.
Her second album of this period, Mythical Kings and Iguanas
, released in 1971, was even more successful. United Artists Records
then took over Mediarts and released her third album, Reflections in a Mud Puddle
. The album was voted one of the best albums of 1972 by Newsweek
magazine, and was included in the New York Times critics' choice as one of the outstanding singer-songwriter albums of the 1970s. "Taps, Tremors and Time-Steps: One Last Dance for my Father," the second side of Reflections In a Mud Puddle, is a personal account of the deterioration of their relationship and her anguish at their differences remaining unresolved at the time of her father's death. In 1972 she released Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign
, a thematic album about Hollywood misfits and Mary C. Brown, an actress who kills herself jumping from Hollywood's letter "H," apparently based upon real-life Peg Entwistle
. The songs were intended for a musical revue that ran briefly in Los Angeles. Previn teamed up with producer Zev Bufman to stage it on Broadway
, but the previews were poor and the show was cancelled before it opened.
Her albums maintained a balance of intensely personal lyrics and wider commentary - "A Stone for Bessie Smith" is about the premature death of singer Janis Joplin
, while "Doppelgänger" examines the latent savagery of humanity. Self-conscious spirituality at the expense of the tangible is criticised in "Mythical Kings and Iguanas," while songs dealing with emotionally frail characters appear as "Lady With the Braid," "Lemon-Haired Ladies," and "The Altruist and the Needy Case." Feminist issues and dilemmas are explored in "Brando" and "The Owl and the Pussycat," while the male ego is attacked with wit and irony in "Michael, Michael," "Don't Put Him Down," and "The Perfect Man."
In 1973, her screenplay Third Girl From The Left was filmed and broadcast as a TV movie. She also undertook some public performances that year, including a concert in New York on April 18, 1973. This was recorded and released later as a double LP, Live At Carnegie Hall
http://waddywachtelinfo.com/DoryPrevin.html, which featured in a book of the two hundred best rock albums. She also continued to collaborate on music for movies and TV. Her last film credit was the title song for Last Tango in Paris
(1973), with music by Gato Barbieri
.
She then switched to Warner Bros. Records
, and released the album Dory Previn
http://waddywachtelinfo.com/doryprevindoryprevin.html in 1974, followed by We're Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx
in 1976. Overcoming her fear of flying, she toured in Europe in the late 1970s, and in 1980 performed in a musical revue of her songs, Children Of Coincidence, in Dublin.
She withdrew from music for a period, and wrote two autobiographies, Midnight Baby: an Autobiography (1976, ISBN 0-02-299000-4) and Bogtrotter: An Autobiography with Lyrics (1980, ISBN 0-385-14708-2). The latter title refers to her Irish heritage: "bogtrotter" is a derogatory term for an Irish person. She also wrote Schizo-phren, a one-woman play with songs.
In 1984 she married actor and artist Joby Baker
. She performed in London in 1986, and also wrote a stage work, The Flight Of The Gooney Bird. She last appeared in concert in 1988, in Dublin and at the Donmar Warehouse
in London. As a writer, her short stories have appeared in several publications, and she has also worked on a novel, Word-Play with an Invisible Relative. She has also lectured on lyric writing, recording, and writing autobiographies at various American universities. Baker provided illustrations for The Dory Previn Songbook, published in 1995, which contains songs from her period with United Artists.
In 1997 she collaborated with André again, to produce a piece for soprano and ensemble entitled The Magic Number. This was first performed by the New York Philharmonic
, with André Previn as conductor and Sylvia McNair
performing the soprano part. A piano
reduction was published by G. Schirmer, Inc (ISBN 0-7935-8803-0).
In 2002 Dory Previn released a royalty-free recording available via the internet entitled Planet Blue. This contains a mixture of recent and previously unreleased material dealing with environmental degradation and the threat of nuclear disaster.
At the time of writing, she continues to work, in spite of having suffered several stroke
s, which have affected her eyesight. She continues to live in Massachusetts
with her husband Joby Baker.
A new compilation of her early 1970s work, entitled The Art of Dory Previn, was released by EMI
on January 21, 2008.
band Camera Obscura
released a song called "Dory Previn" on their 2006 album Let's Get Out of This Country
.
Previn's material from her period with United Artists
has been re-issued on CD under the Beat Goes On label.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
, singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
During the late 1950s and 1960s she was a lyricist for motion picture songs, and with her first husband André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
received several Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nominations. In the 1970s, after their divorce, she released six album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s of original songs and an acclaimed live album. Dory Previn's lyrics from this period are characterised by their originality, their irony, and their honesty in dealing with her troubled personal life, as well as more generally about relationships, sexuality, religion and psychology. She has continued to work since then as a writer of song lyrics and prose.
Early years
She was born in Rahway, New JerseyRahway, New Jersey
Rahway is a city in southern Union County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the New York metropolitan area, being 15 miles southwest of Manhattan and five miles west of Staten Island...
, the eldest daughter in a strict Catholic family of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
origin. She had a troubled relationship with her father, especially during childhood. He had served in the First World War and been gassed
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
, which led to periods of depression and violent mood swings. He tended to alternately embrace and reject Dory, but supported her when she began to show talents for singing and dancing. However, his mental health deteriorated after the birth of a second daughter, culminating in a paranoid episode in which he boarded the family up in their home and held them at gunpoint for several months. Dory’s childhood experiences, described in her autobiography Midnight Baby, had a profound effect on her later life and work.
After high school, Dory attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...
for a year before having to leave due to financial difficulties. She then toured as a chorus line dancer and singer, and started to write songs. She later wrote, "I have been an actress, model, and chorus girl. I've worked at odd jobs - secretary, salesgirl, accounting in a filling station, waitress - anything to keep me going while I pursued my writing." At this time, she entered a brief first marriage which ended in divorce soon after.
Lyricist and marriage, 1958-1969
Through a chance contact with movie producer Arthur Freed, she landed a job as a lyricist at MGM. There she met, and began collaborating with, composer André PrevinAndré Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
. In 1958, as Dory Langdon, she recorded an album of her songs, The Leprechauns Are Upon Me
The Leprechauns Are Upon Me
The Leprechauns Are Upon Me was the first album recorded by Dory Langdon, in 1958. Some years later she had a successful career as the singer-songwriter Dory Previn....
, with Previn and Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
accompanying her, for Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
.
She and Previn married in 1959. The couple collaborated on a number of songs used in motion pictures, including "The Faraway Part Of Town" sung in the film Pepe
Pepe (film)
Pepe is a 1960 film starring Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno in the title role, directed by George Sidney. A multitude of cameo appearances attempted to replicate the success of Mario Moreno's American debut, notably Around the World in Eighty Days, produced by Mike Todd in 1956.The film failed to...
by Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song in 1960. In 1961 they wrote "One, Two, Three Waltz" for the movie One, Two, Three
One, Two, Three
One, Two, Three is a 1961 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and written by him and I.A.L. Diamond. It is based on the 1929 Hungarian one-act play Egy, kettö, három by Ferenc Molnár, with a "plot borrowed partly from" Ninotchka, a 1939 film co-written by Wilder...
, and in 1962 wrote "A Second Chance" for the movie Two For The Seesaw, which won them a second Oscar nomination. They also wrote non-movie songs recorded by Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
, Jack Jones
Jack Jones (singer)
John Allan "Jack" Jones is an American jazz and pop singer. He was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1960s.-Overview:...
, Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
, Sammy Davis Jr., and others. In 1964, Dory Previn collaborated with Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...
on "So Long, Big Time!," which was recorded by Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
. Later in 1966, the song was covered by Carola, accompanied by Heikki Sarmanto Trio.
By the mid-1960s, André Previn had become a classical music conductor, touring worldwide. Dory had a morbid fear of air travel and did not join him. In 1965 Dory Previn's mental health deteriorated, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was briefly institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital. However, she continued to write with her husband, on songs including "You're Gonna Hear From Me" recorded by Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and began to use the name Dory Previn professionally. In 1967, they wrote five songs for the movie Valley of the Dolls
Valley of the Dolls (film)
The soundtrack was released in 1967. Dionne Warwick sang the title track; however, her version is not on the soundtrack. Warwick was signed to Scepter Records at the time and could not contractually appear...
. The soundtrack album spent six months in the charts, and Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
had a pop hit with her version of the theme song. In 1968, Dory wrote a new English libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
for Mozart’s opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
The Impresario. The following year she won a third Oscar nomination for "Come Saturday Morning
Come Saturday Morning (song)
Come Saturday Morning is a popular song with music by Fred Karlin and lyrics by Dory Previn, published in 1970. It was first performed by The Sandpipers on the soundtrack of the 1969 film The Sterile Cuckoo starring Liza Minnelli, and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original...
," with music by Fred Karlin
Fred Karlin
Fred Karlin was an American composer of more than one hundred scores for feature films and television movies. He also was an accomplished trumpeter adept at playing jazz, blues, classical, rock, and medieval music....
, from the movie The Sterile Cuckoo
The Sterile Cuckoo
The Sterile Cuckoo , released in the UK as Pookie, is a theatrical release feature film released by Paramount Pictures. It tells the story of an eccentric young couple whose relationship deepens despite their differences and inadequacies, and stars Liza Minnelli, Wendell Burton, and Tim...
. A hit version was recorded by The Sandpipers
The Sandpipers
The Sandpipers were an American easy listening trio/quartet, who carved a niche in 1960s folk rock. They are best remembered for their cover version of "Guantanamera", which became a transatlantic Top 10 hit in 1966, and their Top 20 hit "Come Saturday Morning" from the soundtrack of the film The...
.
In 1968 André Previn had fully transitioned from composing film scores to conducting symphony orchestras, most notably the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
. While in London he began an affair with the then 24-year-old actress Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
who was working on the film A Dandy in Aspic
A Dandy in Aspic
A Dandy in Aspic is a 1968 British spy film, directed by Anthony Mann, based on the novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe and starring Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay and Mia Farrow....
. In the spring of 1969 Dory discovered that Farrow had become pregnant, compelling her to separate from her husband. Their divorce became final in July 1970 - André Previn subsequently married Farrow. This betrayal led to Dory being institutionalised again, where she was treated with electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy , formerly known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Its mode of action is unknown...
. The treatment seemed to change her outlook as a songwriter, making her more introspective. She subsequently expressed her feelings regarding Farrow, and the end of her marriage in the song "Beware of Young Girls," featured on her 1970 album On My Way to Where
On My Way to Where
On My Way to Where was the first solo LP by Dory Previn, released in 1970.Dory Previn established herself from the late 1950s as a lyricist for movie songs in Hollywood, in the process being nominated for three Academy Awards...
, featuring some acerbic, amusing and insightful lyrics, as can be seen in the excerpts below:
"Beware of young girls who come to your door,
Wistful and pale, twenty and four,
Delivering daisies with delicate hands.
Beware of young girls, too often they crave,
To cry at a wedding...and dance on a grave."
"She was my friend, my friend, my friend.
She was invited to my house, oh yes she was,
And although she knew my love was true, and no ordinary thing,
She admired my wedding ring, she admired my wedding ring."
"We were friends, oh yes we were,
And she just took him from my life, oh yes she did.
So young and vain, she brought me pain, but I'm wise enough to say,
She will leave him one thoughtless day, she'll just leave him and go away, oh yes."
Singer-songwriter, 1970-1980
Alan W. Livingston
Alan Wendell Livingston , born Alan Wendell Levison, was an American businessman best known for his tenures at Capitol Records, first as a writer/producer best-known for creating Bozo the Clown for a series of record-album and illustrative read-along children's book sets, then as the executive who...
and Nik Venet, and recorded her first album for 12 years, On My Way To Where
On My Way to Where
On My Way to Where was the first solo LP by Dory Previn, released in 1970.Dory Previn established herself from the late 1950s as a lyricist for movie songs in Hollywood, in the process being nominated for three Academy Awards...
. Much of the album, which like several subsequent albums was produced by Venet, deals with her experiences in the late 1960s. "Mister Whisper" examines episodes of psychosis
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
from within the confines of a psychiatric hospital, while "Beware of Young Girls" is a scathing attack on Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
and her motives for befriending the Previns. (Farrow belatedly apologized to Dory in her memoir What Falls Away). The track "With My Daddy in the Attic" is a chilling piece dealing with Stockholm Syndrome
Stockholm syndrome
In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them...
and fantasies of incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
. The album's lyrics were published in book form in 1971.
Her second album of this period, Mythical Kings and Iguanas
Mythical Kings and Iguanas
Mythical Kings and Iguanas was the second solo LP by Dory Previn, released in early 1971. Following her successful debut as a confessional singer-songwriter the previous year, it concentrated on the quest for spiritual fulfilment and a loving relationship....
, released in 1971, was even more successful. United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
then took over Mediarts and released her third album, Reflections in a Mud Puddle
Reflections in a Mud Puddle
Reflections in a Mud Puddle was the third solo LP by Dory Previn, released in late 1971. The second side of the original LP was entitled Taps Tremors And Time Steps , and was a continuous suite of songs reflecting on her childhood experiences with a mentally ill father and its impact on her adult...
. The album was voted one of the best albums of 1972 by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine, and was included in the New York Times critics' choice as one of the outstanding singer-songwriter albums of the 1970s. "Taps, Tremors and Time-Steps: One Last Dance for my Father," the second side of Reflections In a Mud Puddle, is a personal account of the deterioration of their relationship and her anguish at their differences remaining unresolved at the time of her father's death. In 1972 she released Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign
Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign
Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign was the fourth solo LP by Dory Previn, released in November 1972. This was a thematic album about Hollywood misfits. The songs were intended for a musical revue that ran briefly in Los Angeles...
, a thematic album about Hollywood misfits and Mary C. Brown, an actress who kills herself jumping from Hollywood's letter "H," apparently based upon real-life Peg Entwistle
Peg Entwistle
Peg Entwistle was an English stage and screen actress who gained notoriety after her suicide at the age of 24 by leaping off of the Hollywood Sign.-Early life:...
. The songs were intended for a musical revue that ran briefly in Los Angeles. Previn teamed up with producer Zev Bufman to stage it on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, but the previews were poor and the show was cancelled before it opened.
Her albums maintained a balance of intensely personal lyrics and wider commentary - "A Stone for Bessie Smith" is about the premature death of singer Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, while "Doppelgänger" examines the latent savagery of humanity. Self-conscious spirituality at the expense of the tangible is criticised in "Mythical Kings and Iguanas," while songs dealing with emotionally frail characters appear as "Lady With the Braid," "Lemon-Haired Ladies," and "The Altruist and the Needy Case." Feminist issues and dilemmas are explored in "Brando" and "The Owl and the Pussycat," while the male ego is attacked with wit and irony in "Michael, Michael," "Don't Put Him Down," and "The Perfect Man."
In 1973, her screenplay Third Girl From The Left was filmed and broadcast as a TV movie. She also undertook some public performances that year, including a concert in New York on April 18, 1973. This was recorded and released later as a double LP, Live At Carnegie Hall
Live at Carnegie Hall (Dory Previn album)
Live at Carnegie Hall was the fifth solo album by Dory Previn, released in 1973 by United Artists.The album was recorded live at Carnegie Hall, New York on 18 April 1973. It was her only live album, and was originally released as a double LP...
http://waddywachtelinfo.com/DoryPrevin.html, which featured in a book of the two hundred best rock albums. She also continued to collaborate on music for movies and TV. Her last film credit was the title song for Last Tango in Paris
Last Tango in Paris
Last Tango in Paris is a 1972 Italian romantic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci which portrays a recent American widower who takes up an anonymous sexual relationship with a young, soon-to-be-married Parisian woman...
(1973), with music by Gato Barbieri
Gato Barbieri
Leandro Barbieri , better known as Gato Barbieri , is an Argentinean jazz tenor saxophonist and composer who rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s and from his latin jazz recordings in the 1970s.-Biography:Born to a family of musicians, Barbieri began playing music...
.
She then switched to Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, and released the album Dory Previn
Dory Previn (album)
Dory Previn was the fifth solo studio LP by Dory Previn, released in September 1974. It was her first album for the Warner Brothers label, having left United Artists.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Dory Previn#"Lover Lover Be My Cover"...
http://waddywachtelinfo.com/doryprevindoryprevin.html in 1974, followed by We're Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx
We're Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx
We're Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx was the sixth solo studio LP by Dory Previn, released in 1976 by the Warner Brothers label. Apart from the download tracks Planet Blue made available in 2002, it was her last set of recordings....
in 1976. Overcoming her fear of flying, she toured in Europe in the late 1970s, and in 1980 performed in a musical revue of her songs, Children Of Coincidence, in Dublin.
She withdrew from music for a period, and wrote two autobiographies, Midnight Baby: an Autobiography (1976, ISBN 0-02-299000-4) and Bogtrotter: An Autobiography with Lyrics (1980, ISBN 0-385-14708-2). The latter title refers to her Irish heritage: "bogtrotter" is a derogatory term for an Irish person. She also wrote Schizo-phren, a one-woman play with songs.
Later life
From the 1980s, she often used the name Dory Previn Shannon, Shannon being her mother's maiden name. In 1983 she wrote and appeared in a musical statement on nuclear war, August 6, 1945, in Los Angeles. Working for television, she won an Emmy Award in 1984 for "We'll Win this World" (from Two of a Kind) with Jim Pasquale, and an Emmy nomination in 1985 for "Home Here" (from Two Marriages) with Bruce Broughton.In 1984 she married actor and artist Joby Baker
Joby Baker
Joby Baker is a Canadian born actor and painter.He was born in Montreal, Quebec. In the early 1960s he made guest appearances in TV series including Dr. Kildare and The Dick Van Dyke Show and appeared in the Elvis Presley movie Girl Happy...
. She performed in London in 1986, and also wrote a stage work, The Flight Of The Gooney Bird. She last appeared in concert in 1988, in Dublin and at the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
in London. As a writer, her short stories have appeared in several publications, and she has also worked on a novel, Word-Play with an Invisible Relative. She has also lectured on lyric writing, recording, and writing autobiographies at various American universities. Baker provided illustrations for The Dory Previn Songbook, published in 1995, which contains songs from her period with United Artists.
In 1997 she collaborated with André again, to produce a piece for soprano and ensemble entitled The Magic Number. This was first performed by the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, with André Previn as conductor and Sylvia McNair
Sylvia McNair
Sylvia McNair is an American opera singer and classical recitalist who has also achieved notable success in the Broadway and cabaret genres. McNair, a soprano, has made several critically acclaimed recordings and has won two Grammy Awards....
performing the soprano part. A piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
reduction was published by G. Schirmer, Inc (ISBN 0-7935-8803-0).
In 2002 Dory Previn released a royalty-free recording available via the internet entitled Planet Blue. This contains a mixture of recent and previously unreleased material dealing with environmental degradation and the threat of nuclear disaster.
At the time of writing, she continues to work, in spite of having suffered several stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
s, which have affected her eyesight. She continues to live in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
with her husband Joby Baker.
A new compilation of her early 1970s work, entitled The Art of Dory Previn, was released by EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
on January 21, 2008.
Tributes
Scottish indie popIndie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
band Camera Obscura
Camera Obscura (band)
Camera Obscura are an indie pop band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band formed in 1996 and have released four albums to date.-History:Camera Obscura were formed in 1996 by Tracyanne Campbell, John Henderson, and Gavin Dunbar. Several other members performed with the band before David Skirving joined...
released a song called "Dory Previn" on their 2006 album Let's Get Out of This Country
Let's Get Out of This Country
Let's Get Out of This Country is the third LP from the indie pop band Camera Obscura.It was produced by Jari Haapalainen of The Bear Quartet. "Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken" was played over the opening credits of the film P.S...
.
Original albums
- The Leprechauns Are Upon MeThe Leprechauns Are Upon MeThe Leprechauns Are Upon Me was the first album recorded by Dory Langdon, in 1958. Some years later she had a successful career as the singer-songwriter Dory Previn....
(1958)—Verve, as Dory Langdon. Reissued in 1983 as Dory & Andre Previn - On My Way to WhereOn My Way to WhereOn My Way to Where was the first solo LP by Dory Previn, released in 1970.Dory Previn established herself from the late 1950s as a lyricist for movie songs in Hollywood, in the process being nominated for three Academy Awards...
(1970)—Mediarts - Mythical Kings and IguanasMythical Kings and IguanasMythical Kings and Iguanas was the second solo LP by Dory Previn, released in early 1971. Following her successful debut as a confessional singer-songwriter the previous year, it concentrated on the quest for spiritual fulfilment and a loving relationship....
(1971)—Mediarts - Reflections in a Mud PuddleReflections in a Mud PuddleReflections in a Mud Puddle was the third solo LP by Dory Previn, released in late 1971. The second side of the original LP was entitled Taps Tremors And Time Steps , and was a continuous suite of songs reflecting on her childhood experiences with a mentally ill father and its impact on her adult...
/Taps Tremors and Time Steps (1971)—United Artists - Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood SignMary C. Brown and the Hollywood SignMary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign was the fourth solo LP by Dory Previn, released in November 1972. This was a thematic album about Hollywood misfits. The songs were intended for a musical revue that ran briefly in Los Angeles...
(1972)—United Artists - Live at Carnegie HallLive at Carnegie Hall (Dory Previn album)Live at Carnegie Hall was the fifth solo album by Dory Previn, released in 1973 by United Artists.The album was recorded live at Carnegie Hall, New York on 18 April 1973. It was her only live album, and was originally released as a double LP...
(1973)—United Artists - Dory PrevinDory Previn (album)Dory Previn was the fifth solo studio LP by Dory Previn, released in September 1974. It was her first album for the Warner Brothers label, having left United Artists.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Dory Previn#"Lover Lover Be My Cover"...
(1974)—Warner Bros. Records - We're Children of Coincidence and Harpo MarxWe're Children of Coincidence and Harpo MarxWe're Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx was the sixth solo studio LP by Dory Previn, released in 1976 by the Warner Brothers label. Apart from the download tracks Planet Blue made available in 2002, it was her last set of recordings....
(1976)—Warner Bros. Records
Compilation albums
- One A.M. Phonecalls - (1977) United Artists
- In Search of Mythical Kings: The U.A. Years - (1993) EMI
- The Art of Dory Previn - (2008) EMI
Previn's material from her period with United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
has been re-issued on CD under the Beat Goes On label.
External links
- Discography
- "Love Song To The Monster": the work of Dory Previn
- Poems and lyrics from On My Way To Where
- Song lyrics at TheLyricArchive.com
- Richie UnterbergerRichie UnterbergerRichie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
's liner notes for reissue of We're Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx