Editing Hoagy Carmichael (section)

== Career ==
Carmichael composed several hundred songs, including fifty that achieved hit-record status during his long career.{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|p=47}} In his early days as a songwriter in [[Indiana]] (1924–1929), he wrote and performed in the [[Hot Jazz|hot jazz]] improvisational style, popular with jazz dance bands. While he was living in New York City (1929–1936), he wrote songs that were intended to stand alone, independent of any other production, such as a theatrical performance or a motion picture. Carmichael's songs from this period continued to include jazz influences. During his later years in California (1936–1981), his songs were predominately [[Instrumental (song)|instrumentals]]. Nearly four dozen were written expressly for, or were incorporated into, motion pictures.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=13}}

Carmichael made hundreds of recordings between 1925 and his death in 1981. He also appeared on radio and television and in motion pictures and live performances, where he demonstrated his versatility. Because Carmichael lacked the vocal strength to sing without amplification on stage, as well as the unusual tone of his voice, which he described as "flatsy through the nose," he took advantage of new electrical technologies, especially the microphone, sound amplification, and advances in recording. As a singer-pianist, Carmichael was adept at selling his songs to lyricists, [[music publisher]]s, film producers, and promoting them to the public via microphones on stage and in mass media.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=17}}

=== Early years ===
On October 31, 1927, Carmichael recorded "[[Stardust (1927 song)|Star Dust]]," one of his most famous songs, at the [[Gennett Records]] studio in [[Richmond, Indiana]], playing the piano solo himself.{{sfn|Kennedy|1994a|pp=8–9}} Carmichael recruited [[Frankie Trumbauer|Frank Trumbauer]] and Bix Beiderbecke, along with members of the [[Paul Whiteman]] Orchestra that included the Dorsey brothers, to play at the late October recording session with him; it is not known which of the orchestra's musicians were at the October 31 session when "Star Dust" was initially recorded.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|pp=106–8}}<ref>Carmichael's "One Night in Havana" was released back-to-back with the "Star Dust" recording on Gennett's "Electrobeam" series. See {{harvnb|Kennedy|1994a|p=9}}</ref> New York's [[Mills Music]] published the song as an upbeat piano solo in January 1929 and renamed it "Stardust." (Mills Music republished the song with the addition of Mitchell Parish's lyrics in May 1929.){{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=23}} "Stardust" attracted little attention until 1930, when [[Isham Jones]] and his orchestra recorded it as a sentimental ballad with a slower tempo, the re-timing often credited to the band's arranger, [[Victor Young]]. It became a hit song, the first of many for Carmichael.{{sfn|Kennedy|1994a|pp=8–9}}{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|pp=139–40}} Its idiosyncratic melody in medium tempo–a song about a song–later became a standard of the [[Great American Songbook]], recorded by hundreds of artists, including [[Artie Shaw]], [[Nat King Cole]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Willie Nelson]], and [[Wynton Marsalis]].{{sfn|Kennedy|1994b|p=138}}{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=123}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/indepth/stardust.shtml|title=Stardust|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=December 15, 2016}}</ref>

Carmichael received more recognition after Paul Whiteman and his orchestra recorded "[[Washboard Blues]]" on [[Victor Talking Machine Company|Victor Records]] in Chicago in November 1927, with Carmichael singing and playing the piano.{{sfn|Kennedy|1994a|p=8}}{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|pp=113–114}} Carmichael's "March of the Hoodlums" and Sheldon Brooks's "Walkin' the Dog" were produced from Carmichael's last recording session at the Gennett Records studio on May 2, 1928, with a band he had hand-selected.{{sfn|Kennedy|1994b|pp=132–134}}

In 1929, after realizing that he preferred making music and had no aptitude for or interest in becoming a lawyer (he was sacked from his job at the law firm), Carmichael moved to New York City, where he worked for a brokerage firm during the weekdays and spent his evenings composing music, including some songs for [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] musicals.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=129}} In New York, Carmichael met [[Duke Ellington]]'s agent and [[sheet music]] publisher, [[Irving Mills]], and hired him to set up recording dates. Carmichael's first major song with his own lyrics was "[[Rockin' Chair (1929 song)|Rockin' Chair]]," recorded by [[Louis Armstrong]] and [[Mildred Bailey]], and eventually with his own hand-picked studio band (featuring Beiderbecke, [[Bubber Miley]], [[Benny Goodman]], [[Tommy Dorsey]], [[Bud Freeman]], [[Eddie Lang]], [[Joe Venuti]], and [[Gene Krupa]]) on May 21, 1930.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sudhalter|2002|pp=129, 131, 143}}</ref>

=== 1930s ===
After the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|October 1929 stock market crash]], Carmichael's hard-earned savings declined substantially. Fortunately, Louis Armstrong had recorded "[[Rockin' Chair (1929 song)|Rockin' Chair]]" at [[Okeh Records|Okeh]] studios in 1929, giving Carmichael a badly needed financial and career boost. The song became one of Carmichael's jazz standards.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=26}}{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=136}} Carmichael composed and recorded "[[Georgia on My Mind]]" (lyrics by [[Stuart Gorrell]]) in 1930. The song became another jazz staple, as well as a pop standard, especially after [[World War II]].{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=35}} Carmichael also arranged and recorded "[[Up a Lazy River]]" in 1930, a tune by [[Sidney Arodin]]. Although Carmichael and the band he assembled had first recorded "Stardust" as an instrumental in 1927, [[Bing Crosby]] recorded the tune with Mitchell Parish's lyrics in 1931.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=27}}

Carmichael joined [[ASCAP]] in 1931. The following year he began working as a songwriter for [[Ralph Peer]]'s Southern Music Company, the first music firm to occupy the new [[Brill Building]], which became a famous New York songwriting mecca. The [[Great Depression]] rapidly put an end to the jazz scene of the [[Roaring Twenties]]. People were no longer attending clubs or buying music, forcing many musicians out of work. Carmichael was fortunate to retain his low-paying but stable job as a songwriter with Southern Music. Beiderbecke's early death in 1931 also darkened Carmichael's mood.<ref name=Timeline>{{cite web| title =The Hoagy Carmichael Collection: Timeline of Hoagy Carmichael's Life | publisher=Indiana University | date =November 18, 2002 | url=http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/hoagy/research/timeline/index.html| access-date =December 6, 2016}}</ref> Of that time, he wrote later: "I was tiring of jazz and I could see that other musicians were tiring as well. The boys were losing their enthusiasm for the hot stuff…. No more hot licks, no more thrills."{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=147}}

Carmichael's eulogy for "hot" jazz, however, was premature. [[Big band]] [[Swing music|swing]] was just around the corner, and jazz soon turned in another direction with new bandleaders, such as [[Benny Goodman]], [[Jimmy Dorsey|Jimmy]] and [[Tommy Dorsey]], and new singers, such as [[Bing Crosby]], leading the way. Carmichael's output followed the changing trend. In 1933 he began a long-lasting collaboration with lyricist [[Johnny Mercer]], newly arrived in New York, on "[[Lazybones (song)|Lazybones]]," which became a hit. [[Southern Music]] published the sheet music in 1933; more than 350,000 copies were sold in three months.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=27}}{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=157}} Carmichael collaborated with Mercer on nearly three dozen songs,{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=7}} including "Thanksgiving," "Moon Country," and the 1951 [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]-winner for best song, "In the Cool, Cool, Cool, of the Evening."{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|pp=151, 153}}

Carmichael also began to emerge as a solo singer-performer, first at parties, then professionally. He described his unique, laconic voice as sounding "the way a shaggy dog looks... I have Wabash fog and sycamore twigs in my throat."{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=173}} Some fans were dismayed as he steadily veered away from "hot" jazz, but Armstrong's recordings continued to "jazz up" Carmichael's popular songs. In 1935 Carmichael left Southern Music Company and began composing songs for a division of [[Warner Bros.|Warner Brothers]], establishing his connection with [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]. "Moonburn," the first song Carmichael wrote for a motion picture, was sung by Bing Crosby in Paramount Pictures’ film ''[[Anything Goes (1936 film)|Anything Goes]]'' in 1936.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=27}}

Following his marriage to Ruth Mary Meinardi, the daughter of a [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] minister, on March 14, 1936, the couple moved to California, where Carmichael hoped to find more work in the film industry.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|pp=168–72}} In 1937, the year before the birth of the couple's first son, Hoaglund Jr. (Hoagy Bix), Carmichael accepted a contract with [[Paramount Pictures]] for $1,000 a week, joining other songwriters working for the Hollywood studios, including [[Harry Warren]] at Warner Brothers, [[E. Y. Harburg]] at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]], and [[Ralph Rainger]] and [[Leo Robin]] at Paramount.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=185}}{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=9}}

Carmichael found work as a character actor in Hollywood. His on-screen debut occurred in 1937 in ''[[Topper (film)|Topper]]'', with [[Cary Grant]] and [[Constance Bennett]]. Carmichael portrayed a piano player and performed his song "Old Man Moon" in the film.<ref name=Timeline /> The effort led to other character actor roles in the 1940s.{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|p=49}}

Carmichael also continued to write individual songs. His song "Chimes of Indiana" was presented to Indiana University, Carmichael's alma mater, in 1937 as a gift from the class of 1935.<ref>In 1978 the IU Alumni Association adopted "Chimes of Indiana" as one of IU's official fight songs. See {{cite web |title=Indiana, Our Indiana Hail to Old IU Indiana Fight Chimes of Indiana |publisher=Indiana University Athletics |url=http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/iuhoosiers.com/documents/2015/4/6/iusongs.pdf |access-date=December 12, 2016 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304235459/http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/iuhoosiers.com/documents/2015/4/6/iusongs.pdf |url-status=dead }} See also {{cite web |title=Audio |publisher=Indiana University Marching Hundred |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~bands/sound.php |access-date=December 12, 2016 }}</ref>{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=255}} In 1938, Carmichael collaborated with Paramount lyricist [[Frank Loesser]] on "[[Heart and Soul (1938 song)|Heart and Soul]]," "[[Two Sleepy People]]," and "[[Small Fry (song)|Small Fry.]]" "Heart and Soul" was included in Paramount's motion picture ''A Song Is Born'' (1938), performed by Larry Clinton and his orchestra. (After 1950, a simpler version became a popular piano duet among American children.) [[Dick Powell]] premiered Carmichael's "[[I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)]]" in a national radio broadcast in 1938.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|pp=43–44}}

"Little Old Lady," included in ''The Show Is On'' (1936), was Carmichael's first song to appear in a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical and became a hit,{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=9}} but Carmichael's score for the Broadway production ''Walk with Music'', which he did with Mercer, was unsuccessful. The musical opened in 1940 and ran for only three weeks,<ref name=Timeline /> producing no hit songs. Carmichael never attempted another musical, resuming his career as a singer-songwriter and character actor in Hollywood.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}}

=== 1940s ===
[[File:Best Years of Our Lives.jpg|thumb|Carmichael, [[Fredric March]], [[Myrna Loy]], [[Dana Andrews]] and [[Theresa Wright]] in ''[[The Best Years of Our Lives]]'' (1946)]]
The growing Carmichael family, which included Hoagy, Ruth, and their sons, Hoagy Bix (born in 1938) and Randy Bob (born in 1940), moved into the former mansion of chewing-gum heir [[William Wrigley, Jr.|William P. Wrigley, Jr.]] in Los Angeles in 1942, when the United States entered World War II after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]].{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=226}} His contribution to the war effort was similar to other patriotic efforts by [[Irving Berlin]] ("[[This Is the Army]], Mr. Jones"), Johnny Mercer ("[[G.I. Jive]]"), and [[Frank Loesser]] ("[[Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition]]"). Carmichael's wartime songs (most with lyrics by [[Paul Francis Webster]]) included "My Christmas Song for You," "Don't Forget to Say 'No' Baby," "Billy-a-Dick," "The Army of Hippocrates," "Cranky Old Yank," "Eager Beaver," "No More Toujours l'Amour," "Morning Glory," and the never-completed "Hitler Blues."{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=244}}

Throughout the 1940s Carmichael maintained a strong personal and professional relationship with Mercer. In later 1941 their continuing collaboration led to "[[Skylark (song)|Skylark]]," considered one of Carmichael's greatest songs. Bing Crosby recorded it almost immediately in January 1942. Since then many others have recorded the song, including [[Glenn Miller]], [[Dinah Shore]], [[Helen Forrest]] (with [[Harry James]]),{{sfn|Hasse|1988|pp=13, 46}} Aretha Franklin and [[Bette Midler]].

Carmichael's 1942 song "I'm a Cranky Old Yank" was listed in the 1967 edition of the ''[[Guinness Book of Records]]'' under the title "I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with My Honolulu Mama Doin' Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-On-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues" as the longest song title.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dmdb.org/cgi-bin/plinfo_view.pl?SYN053324 |title=Details for I'm A Cranky Old Yank In A Clanky Old Tank – Bing Crosby}}</ref>

Carmichael appeared as an actor in 14 motion pictures, performing at least one of his songs in each. He described his on-screen persona as the "hound-dog-faced old musical philosopher noodling on the honky-tonk piano, saying to a tart with a heart of gold: 'He'll be back, honey. He's all man.'"{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=249}} In 1944 Carmichael played Cricket in the screen adaptation of [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s ''[[To Have and Have Not (film)|To Have and Have Not]]'', opposite [[Humphrey Bogart]] and [[Lauren Bacall]]. He sang "[[Hong Kong Blues]]" and "The Rhumba Jumps," and played piano as Bacall sang "How Little We Know." In the multi-Academy Award-winning film ''[[The Best Years of Our Lives]]'' (1946) with [[Dana Andrews]], [[Myrna Loy]] and [[Fredric March]], Carmichael's character teaches a disabled veteran with metal prostheses to play "[[Chopsticks (music)|Chopsticks]]," and also performs "Lazy River."{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=37}} Carmichael played Hi Linnett in ''[[Canyon Passage]]'' (1946), a [[Universal Pictures]] western that starred [[Dana Andrews]] (his costar in ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' and ''[[Night Song (1948 film)|Night Song]]''), [[Susan Hayward]], and [[Brian Donlevy]]. He also composed several songs for the film, including "Ole Buttermilk Sky," an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nominee.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=40}}

Carmichael's career as a recording artist peaked in the mid-1940s when he recorded exclusively for [[Decca Records]] and [[V-Disc]] (the Armed Forces label for service personnel overseas), acted and performed in motion pictures, and hosted variety shows on the radio. He also sang in live shows across the United States, and debuted in the United Kingdom at the [[Prince Edward Theatre|London Casino]] in 1948.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}} According to his son Randy, Carmichael was an incessant composer, working on a song for days or even weeks until it was perfect. His perfectionism extended to his clothes, grooming, and eating. Once the work was done, however, Carmichael would cut loose—relax, play golf, drink, and indulge in the Hollywood high life.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=259}} Carmichael also found time to write his first autobiography, ''The Stardust Road'', published in 1946.<ref name=StardustRoad>{{cite book |author=Carmichael, Hoagy |title=The Stardust Road |publisher=Rinehart and Company |location=New York |year=1946 }}</ref> In addition, Carmichael composed an orchestral work, ''Brown County in Autumn'', in 1948, but it was not well received by critics.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}}

Between 1944 and 1948, Carmichael became a well-known radio personality and hosted three musical-variety programs. In 1944–45, the 30-minute ''Tonight at Hoagy's'' aired on [[Mutual Broadcasting System|Mutual]] radio on Sunday nights at 8:30&nbsp;p.m. (Pacific time), sponsored by Safeway supermarkets. Produced by Walter Snow, the show featured Carmichael as host and vocalist. Musicians included [[Pee Wee Hunt]] and [[Joe Venuti]]. Fans were rather blunt about Carmichael's singing, providing comments such as "you cannot sing for your soul" and "your singing is so delightfully awful that it is really funny."{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=246}}

=== 1950s ===
During the 1950s, the public's musical preferences shifted toward rhythm and blues and rock and roll, ending the careers of most older artists. Carmichael's songwriting career also slowed down, but he continued to perform.{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|p=49}}

[[File:Hoagy Carmichael George Gobel 1954.JPG|thumb|Carmichael sharing the ''Saturday Night Revue'' duties with [[George Gobel]], 1953]]

In the early 1950s, variety shows were particularly popular on television. Carmichael's most notable appearance was as the host of ''Saturday Night Review'' in June 1953, a summer replacement series for ''[[Your Show of Shows]]''.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Television in Review |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 8, 1953}}</ref> He was also a regular cast member in the first season of NBC's western TV series ''[[Laramie (TV series)|Laramie]]'' (1959–63), playing the character role of Jonesy the ranch hand.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}}

As his songwriting career started to fade, Carmichael's marriage also dissolved. He and his wife Ruth divorced in 1955.<ref>Ruth Carmichael later married [[Verne Mason]], a Los Angeles physician. See {{harvnb|Sudhalter|2002|pp=285–87, 318–19, 322}}.</ref>

The ''Johnny Appleseed Suite'', Carmichael's second classical work for orchestra, suffered the same ill fate as his earlier attempt, ''Brown County Autumn''. The suite received little notice and only limited success,{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}} but Carmichael remained financially secure due to the royalties from his past hits. During the 1940s and 1950s Carmichael also wrote more than a dozen songs for children, including "The Whale Song," "Merry-Go-Round," and "Rocket Ship."<ref>{{cite book |author=Hoagy Carmichael and J.P. Miller |title=Hoagy Carmichael's Songs for Children |publisher=Golden Press |location=New York |year=1957 |pages=9–11, 25–29 |oclc=15369706}}</ref>

=== Later years ===
[[Ray Charles]]'s classic rendition of "[[Georgia on My Mind]]," released on August 19, 1960, was a major hit. (Charles received [[Grammy Award|Grammys]] both for Best Male Vocal and Best Popular Single that year.){{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=46}} In 1961, Carmichael was featured in an episode of ''[[The Flintstones]]'' entitled "The Hit Songwriters."<ref>[[MeTV]] website, [https://www.metv.com/lists/5-things-you-never-knew-about-the-flintstones-episode-the-hit-song-writers/ "5 things you never knew about The Flintstones episode "The Hit Song Writers"], retrieved September 2, 2023.</ref> [[Jerry Lee Lewis]] recorded "Hong Kong Blues" during his final [[Sun Records|Sun]] sessions in 1963, but it was never released.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hong Kong Blues |publisher=Rockabilly.nl |url=http://www.rockabilly.nl/lyrics2/h0057.htm |access-date=February 12, 2008}}</ref> In 1964, while [[the Beatles]] were exploding on the scene, Carmichael lamented, "I'll betcha I have 25 songs lying in my trunk" and no one was calling to say "have you got a real good song for such-and such an artist."{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=306}} (Beatles guitarist [[George Harrison]] released covers of "Baltimore Oriole" and "Hong Kong Blues" in early 1981.)<ref>Ginell, Richard S. "Somewhere in England–George Harrison: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2012.</ref> Royalties on his standards were earning Carmichael over $300,000 a year.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=311}}

Carmichael's second memoir, ''Sometimes I Wonder: The Story of Hoagy Carmichael'', was published in 1965.<ref name=Sometimes>{{cite book |author=Carmichael, Hoagy, and Stephen Longstreet |title=Sometimes I Wonder: The Story of Hoagy Carmichael |url=https://archive.org/details/sometimesiwonder00carmi |url-access=registration |publisher=Farrar, Straus And Giroux |location=New York |year=1965 |oclc=1037498}}</ref> By 1967 he was spending time in New York, but his new songs were unsuccessful and his musical career came to a close. Carmichael took up other interests in retirement, including golf, coin collecting, and enjoying his two homes, one on [[Sunset Boulevard]] in Los Angeles and the other in [[Rancho Mirage, California]].{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2015|p=49}}
[[File:Fred Rogers, Hoagy, and Hoagy B. Carmichael.jpg|thumb|right|Carmichael, son Hoagy Bix Carmichael and [[Fred Rogers]] in 1978]]
As he passed his 70th birthday, Carmichael's star continued to wane and was nearly forgotten in a world dominated by rock music. With the help and encouragement of his son, Hoagy Bix Carmichael, Carmichael participated in the [[PBS]] television show ''Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop'', which featured jazz-rock versions of his hits by [[Stark Reality]]. He appeared on [[Fred Rogers]]'s PBS show ''Old Friends, New Friends'' in 1978.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=336}} With more time on his hands, Carmichael resumed painting, and after a long courtship he married [[Dorothy Wanda McKay]], an actress, in 1977.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}}

Carmichael received several honors from the music industry in his later years. He was inducted into the USA's [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]] in 1971, along with [[Duke Ellington]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hoagy Carmichael |publisher=Songwriters' Hall of Fame |url=http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C57 |access-date=December 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104000714/http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C57 |archive-date=January 4, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1972, Indiana University awarded Carmichael an honorary doctorate in music.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Honorary Doctorate in Music |publisher=Indiana University |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~ceremony/honors/honorarydegrees.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613201700/http://www.indiana.edu/~ceremony/honors/honorarydegrees.shtml |archive-date=June 13, 2008}}</ref> On June 27, 1979, the [[Newport Jazz Festival]] honored Carmichael's 80th birthday with a concert titled "The Stardust Road: A Hoagy Carmichael Jubilee" in [[Carnegie Hall]].{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}} The tribute concert was hosted by former bandleader [[Bob Crosby]] and included performances by many major musical performers, such as singers [[Kay Starr]], [[Jackie Cain]], [[Dave Frishberg]], and [[Max Morath]], and musicians [[Billy Butterfield]], [[Bob Wilber]], [[Yank Lawson]], [[Vic Dickenson]], and [[Bob Haggart]]. [[NPR|National Public Radio]] broadcast the concert later that summer. "Piano Pedal Rag," a new Carmichael tune, was performed during the concert. Carmichael told host Crosby that he wrote it because he admired Beiderbecke's writing "so much that I didn't want to stop until I wrote something that was a little bit like something Bix might have liked."<ref>Recording of the NPR broadcast. The upcoming concert was mentioned in {{cite journal| author=Gary Giddins| title =Newport: Choices and More Choices |journal=New York |date=June 25, 1979 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lOECAAAAMBAJ&q=hoagy+carmichael+at+carnegie+hall&pg=PA92 | access-date =December 6, 2016}}</ref>

On his 80th birthday, Carmichael was reflective, observing, "I'm a bit disappointed in myself. I know I could have accomplished a hell of a lot more... I could write anything any time I wanted to. But I let other things get in the way.... I've been floating around in the breeze."{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=338}} He spent his final years at home in [[Rancho Mirage, California|Rancho Mirage]], near [[Palm Springs, California]], where he continued to play golf and remained an avid coin collector.{{sfn|Hasse|1988|p=11}}

Shortly before his death in 1981, Carmichael appeared on a United Kingdom-recorded tribute album, ''In Hoagland'' (1981), with [[Annie Ross]] and [[Georgie Fame]]. Carmichael sang and played "Rockin' Chair" on the piano. His last public appearance occurred in early 1981, when he filmed ''Country Comes Home'' with country music performer [[Crystal Gayle]] for CBS.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|pp=341–342}}

===Political views===
According to his biographer, Carmichael had supported the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] since his youth, and did so throughout his life.{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=242}} He voted for [[Wendell Willkie]] at the [[1940 United States presidential election|1940 presidential election]], and backed [[Barry Goldwater]], the party's candidate, at the [[1964 United States presidential election]].{{sfn|Sudhalter|2002|p=242}}<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfHXAAAAQBAJ&q=Carmichael | title=When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics| isbn=9781107650282| last1=Critchlow| first1=Donald T.| date=October 21, 2013| publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>