Leiber and Stoller yakkety yak about it all

September 30, 2009|Book review, Steve Morse, Globe Correspondent

When Elvis Presley recorded “Hound Dog,’’ he changed some of the words without telling songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. But who was going to complain to Elvis? “Whether I liked his interpretation or not is beside the point. We were in the right place at the right time,’’ Stoller recalls giddily.

That’s an understatement.

Leiber and Stoller helped spearhead the transition from R&B to rock in the ’50s, going on to compose more hits than any duo not named Lennon and McCartney. Born on the East Coast (Leiber in Baltimore, Stoller in Queens), they were mesmerized by black voices and first wrote “Hound Dog’’ for Big Mama Thornton. Because they were still underage when Thornton recorded it, their mothers had to sign the contract.

The highs and lows of that seminal, soon-to-be-big-business era are catalogued in flamboyant detail in this new, page-turning autobiography. Author David Ritz, who also has overseen projects on Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles, helps edit it, though in an unusual way. It consists entirely of conversations with Leiber and Stoller, with their comments alternating throughout like one long barroom chat. And we get some great insider memories - mostly from Leiber, who admits to fighting Norman Mailer in a nightclub scrap, drinking with James Dean, and getting testy with Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s manager. He calls Parker “fat and smart and a nonstop talker whose ego was always on parade.’’ (Elvis, on the other hand, was “completely open and never acted like a diva.’’)

But the focus of the book is on music. Lieber and Stoller were born within a few weeks of each other in 1933 and seem like blood brothers throughout. Their lives were shaped early - Stoller’s mom once dated George Gershwin - and they complemented each other’s abilities with Leiber penning the lyrics and Stoller the music. Both were precocious talents; Stoller was 8 when he learned boogie-woogie from James P. Johnson, Fats Waller’s mentor.