(Pictured: Hall of Fame songwriter Johnny Mercer.)
Here’s one last story inspired by James Kaplan’s Frank Sinatra biography, although Frank himself isn’t involved much.
Like other people in other times and other places, Sadie Vimmerstedt, a fiftysomething widow in Youngstown, Ohio, was interested in the lives and loves of celebrities. Sadie had been outraged when Frank Sinatra threw over his wife and the mother of his children for actress Ava Gardner in 1950, and felt vindicated when Gardner divorced him in 1957. The latter gave her an idea for a song. A good song, too, not that rock ‘n’ roll junk the kids liked. Trouble was, she was no songwriter. She had only one line: “I want to be around to pick up the pieces when somebody breaks your heart.” She thought that “When Somebody Breaks Your Heart” would be a good title. But what to do with the idea?
Isn’t it obvious?
Sadie took a couple of sheets of paper from an old desk calendar and wrote to the most famous songwriter in America, Johnny Mercer. By 1957, Mercer had won two Oscars, created famous Broadway musicals, helped found Capitol Records, and wrote or co-wrote many entries in the Great American Songbook: “Fools Rush In,” “Blues in the Night, “Skylark,” “That Old Black Magic,” “One for My Baby (And One More for the Road),” “Autumn Leaves,” and many others. Sadie did not know Mercer’s precise address, so she put “Johnny Mercer, Songwriter, New York, N.Y.” on the envelope and dropped it in the mailbox. The post office didn’t know Mercer’s address either, but it figured that ASCAP, the songwriters and publishers’ association, would. So the letter was forwarded, and ASCAP sent it to Mercer.
Johnny Mercer sat on the letter during a couple of fallow years in the late 50s, finally writing Sadie back to apologize for the delay, at about the time he started writing new songs again—a period during which he’d write two more Oscar winners, “Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses.” He incorporated Sadie’s suggested line into a lyric, but changed her proposed title to “I Wanna Be Around.”
Sources vary on exactly what happened next. Sinatra biographer James Kaplan says Mercer told Sadie he would not have the song recorded until he found the right singer for it. But it’s possible that if Mercer said that, he was just being polite. According to Mercer biographer Gene Lees, Mercer’s son-in-law said the songwriter thought that the song “stunk.” Mercer told a song plugger named Phil Zellner that it was “the worst song I ever wrote.” But Zellner heard something in it, and he placed it with Tony Bennett. However it happened, Bennett premiered the song on October 1, 1962, singing on Johnny Carson’s first Tonight show. In the winter of 1963, “I Wanna Be Around” went to #14 on the Hot 100, higher than Bennett’s previous hit, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
When he finished the song, Mercer told Sadie he would give her a co-writing credit and 10 percent of the royalties. When the song hit, he upped her royalty to 50 percent. “I never expected any royalties,” she said. “[The song] was his to do with what he wished.” Toward the end of 1963, Sadie Vimmerstedt opened her mail to find a royalty check in the amount of $50,000—and money would keep flowing in for the rest of her life and beyond. She also became a Grammy nominee when “I Wanna Be Around” was nominated for Song of the Year, and she attended the awards banquet. She traveled to Cleveland and Cincinnati for radio interviews and to New York for a TV show, and she was even asked for her autograph from time to time. All the while, she continued to work as a cosmetologist. The demands on her time caused her to write Mercer at one point and say, “I’m getting tired of show business.” The two apparently maintained a correspondence for years. Mercer once said, “She’s just the cutest thing.”
Johnny Mercer died in 1976; Sadie Vimmerstedt died in 1986. Tony Bennett celebrated his 94th birthday earlier this month. And while “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” will always be Bennett’s best-known song, “I Wanna Be Around” is probably #2 or #3, and his version is definitive. Sinatra recorded it with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1964.
(Be sure to read this comment from Sadie’s grandson, with some additional information.)
The Hits Just Keep On Comin' 
That is a seriously great story.
I second that motion. All in favor say “Aye” (Aye!). The motion passes. This is officially a seriously great story, jb.
Great story, Jim. I remember someone in an office where I once worked. She regularly and for no apparent reason launched into singing that song at the top of her voice. (Not a bad voice either.) One day I copied the Tony Bennett version for her so she could play it over and over (and over and over…) much to the chagrin of others in the office. Whenever I hear that song I think of her.
I concur: Great story!
Since Paul Harvey is no longer handling the franchise, I nominate jb to use this terrific story as the pilot episode for The Rest Of The Story v.2
Kudos to Johnny Mercer for rewarding Sadie with an equal share of the royalties, acknowledging that were it not for her, “I Wanna Be Around” would’ve never been around.
Fascinating read, Jim – double kudos on a great job of telling the story!
I was watching a Time-Life music infomercial years ago when I heard a snippet of a song I had to hear more of. Turns out it was Frank Ifield’s I Remember You, co-written by Johnny Mercer of course and originally sung in a movie by Dorothy Lamour. I love the song now, and Slim Whitman’s version is pretty darned good, too.
I am Sadie’s Grandson. Most of the this story is accurate.But let me tighten up some details.
Johnny Mercer never offered my grandma 10%. He told her if he ever had the song recorded he would
give her 33%, He then eventually gave her 50% of the royalties.
The song was written about Sinatra, but they kept that detail under wraps because they were afraid Frank might squash it.That info was eventually reveled but long after the song was a hit.
Sinatra must not have minded because he ended up recording it. (many others have covered it)
Johnny Mercer and Tony Bennett were both very kind and gracious to my grandmother.
Tony Bennett welcomed any member’s of our family backstage after one of his performances.
I doubt very much that Mercer said the song stunk.He would not have reached out to Tony Bennett with a song that stunk.
Thanks for telling my Grandma’s story.
Paul: Were you a member or descendant of the Scahill family that lived on Byron Street on Youngstowns east side. I knew the brother’s Jack and Bob and I believe they had a brother Paul.
A great old east side Irish clan. We had many of them including the Kennedy clan which lived up over Lincoln Park. Bob Kennedy
Casey Kasem told this story on probably an early 70’s show.
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Wonderful story. I just heard a rebroadcast of an early 1970’s American Top 40 Show and Casey Kasem told the story about Sadie. I immediately thought of what a class act Johnny Mercer had been. What an honorable man. How he was so good to Sadie as a co-writer. It makes me go forward knowing that goodness does matter and that there are people out there living it. What a classy man Johnny Mercer had been. Great story.
I heard the story on a rebroadcast of American Top 40 with Casey Kasem on Sirius XM Radio on Saturday, February 5, 2022. Inspiring and truly wonderful story. Reaffirms my faith in people.
Grreat post thanks
I learned to love Johnny Mercer via two sources: my late mother Joyce, who was a big fan and secondly I was listening to the late, great record producer, writer and disc jockey Charlie Gillett when he was presenting one of his theme shows on BBC radio sometime in the early 80s. The theme for this particular show was drinking and he played One For My Baby (And One More For The Road.) He said something like: “Most people know and play the Frank Sinatra version, but I prefer the Johnny Mercer rendition.” So do I and within a few weeks I’d bought the brilliant Mercer compilation ‘Personality…Johnny Mercer Sings.’
Note: I wonder if Bob Dylan based his Themetime Radio shows on Charlie’s original?