Too Marvelous for Words: Piano/Vocal/Chords

This collection spans the full emotional and stylistic range of Mercer's output, from introspective classics like "Moon River" and "Emily" to swinging novelties like "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" and "I'm an Old Cowhand." Singers will find songs suited to every vocal approach and every performance context, whether constructing a standards-focused recital or weaving Mercer's work into a broader American songbook program.

These songs breathe with the ease and charm of American vernacular speech set to melody. Whether playful and rhythmically bouncing or intimate and reflective, Mercer's words marry perfectly with their musical settings, creating arrangements that feel conversational yet musically sophisticated. The collection captures the warmth and accessibility that made these songs endure across decades.

This songbook serves vocalists preparing standards for auditions, recitals, or ensemble performance, as well as pianists and guitarists accompanying singers or performing these classics as solo or duo repertoire. The chord frames make the collection accessible to self-accompanying singers and guitarists building their jazz and popular music literacy.

• Treat Mercer's lyrics as conversational language first; the rhythm and natural speech patterns carry the melody, so resist over-phrasing or emotional exaggeration that would contradict his colloquial tone.
• Study the composer pairings in this volume (Arlen, Whiting, Carmichael, Mancini) to understand how different harmonic colors and melodic shapes shape interpretation; Mercer's words adapt beautifully to each composer's voice.
• Reference recorded performances by singers associated with these songs (Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Hartley) to hear how lyric inflection and timing breathe life into the chord changes provided in the piano/vocal arrangement.

Program individual songs from this collection to anchor a recital celebrating American popular song, or select a thematic set around Mercer's work with one composer (Arlen or Mancini, for instance) to spotlight his stylistic range. The volume also serves as a resource for jazz and commercial vocal study, offering selections at varying levels of complexity that singers can return to throughout their development.

• Lyric interpretation and storytelling through conversational phrasing
• Harmonic navigation using chord symbols and lead-sheet reading
• Stylistic flexibility across ballad, swing, and novelty song idioms
• Understanding the relationship between lyric rhythm and melodic phrasing
• Jazz and popular song vocabulary and harmonic language