The Passing of a Poet - Jerry Leiber

New York Times

Jerry Leiber is up there in the twentieth century's poets' and songwriters' Pantheon, alongside Eliot, Auden, Betjeman, Larkin, Adrian Mitchell and Bob Dylan. He was 78 years old.

His wit, his creative use of language and idiom made him much more than a brilliant rock 'n' roll lyric writer.

Listen again, with a critic's ear, to the words of such songs as Yakety Yak, Charlie Brown, Poison Ivy, Love Potion Number 9, Spanish Harlem, Hound Dog, Trouble, Santa Claus is Back in Town and Jailhouse Rock.

Indispensable songs!

Song List.

BBC