Editing Mitchell Parish (section)

==Career==

His first steady employer was the music publisher Jack Mills, brother of [[Irving Mills]], who signed him for $12 a week to write comedy lyrics for vaudeville acts and to be a song-plugger. His first hit, "[[Carolina Rolling Stone]]", was recorded by the musical comedy team [[Van and Schenck]] for [[Columbia Records]] in 1922.<ref name="Holden"/> Parish tended to write his lyrics to completed melodies, hits that originated in other languages, or adaptations of classical music.<ref name="Holden"/>

[[Hoagy Carmichael]], [[Duke Ellington]], [[Peter De Rose]], [[Leroy Anderson]], [[Glenn Miller]], [[Sammy Fain]], and [[Benny Goodman]] were among the composers.  As one of the first inductees into the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]], the romantic quality of many of his lyrics such as "[[Stardust (1927 song)|Stardust]]", "[[Stairway to the Stars]]", "[[Deep Purple (song)|Deep Purple]]", and "[[Moonlight Serenade]]" contributed to his being called by other songwriters "the poet laureate of the profession".<ref name="Songwriters Hall of Fame"/> In an interview in 1987,  Parish claimed to have written the lyrics to the [[Duke Ellington]] standard "[[Mood Indigo]]", though they were credited to [[Irving Mills]]. He remained "somewhat rueful, though no longer bitter" about it.<ref name="query.nytimes.com">{{Cite news | last1 = Holden | first1 = Stephen | title = Theater; Mitchell Parish: A Way With Words | newspaper = New York Times | date = 1987-02-01 | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD71E3DF932A35751C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print}}</ref>

His best-known works include the lyrics to songs such as "[[Stardust (1927 song)|Stardust]]", "[[Sweet Lorraine]]", "[[Deep Purple (song)|Deep Purple]]", "[[Stars Fell on Alabama]]", "[[Sophisticated Lady]]", the translation to English lyrics of "[[Volare (song)|Volare]]" and "[[Blue Skirt Waltz]]", "[[Moonlight Serenade]]", "[[Mr. Ghost Goes to Town]]", "[[Sleigh Ride]]", "[[One Morning in May (1933 song)|One Morning in May]]", and "[[Louisiana Fairy Tale]]",<ref name="LarkinGE"/> which was the first theme song used in the PBS Production of ''[[This Old House]]''.

Besides providing the lyrics to Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust", the two collaborated on standards such as "[[Riverboat Shuffle]]" and "[[One Morning in May (1933 song)|One Morning in May]]".<ref>He wrote the lyrics to the Glenn Miller ballad "[[Sometime (Glenn Miller song)|Sometime]]" from 1939, co-written with Glenn Miller and John [[Chummy MacGregor]].{{Cite news | last1 = Holden | first1 = Stephen | title = Theater; Mitchell Parish: A Way With Words | newspaper = New York Times | date = 1987-02-01 | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD71E3DF932A35751C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print}}
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In 1949, Parish added lyrics to bandleader Al Goodman's tune "The Allen Stroll", which was played as radio comedian [[Fred Allen]] took a stroll down "Allen's Alley", a featured segment of Allen's weekly show. The new song, "Carousel of Love", premiered on ''[[The Fred Allen Show]]'' on April 4, 1949. It was sung by the [[DeMarco Sisters]] and played by Al Goodman and his Orchestra.

In 1950, he wrote lyrics to Leroy Anderson's "[[The Syncopated Clock]]".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.leroyanderson.com/lyrics.php|title=Leroy Anderson—-American composer and conductor of light concert music: Lyrics|website=Leroyanderson.com}}</ref> In 1951, he wrote the English lyrics of the French song "[[Maître Pierre (song)|Maître Pierre]]" which was written in 1948 by [[Henri Betti]] (music) and Jacques Plante (lyrics). The title song became "[[The Windmill Song]]" and the song was recorded by [[The Andrews Sisters]] with [[Gordon Jenkins]] and his Orchestra.

He participated in the episode of ''[[To Tell the Truth]]'' aired on December 25, 1956, as a challenger.

In 1972, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is the recipient of their [[Johnny Mercer]] Award.<ref name="Songwriters Hall of Fame"/>