Cahn, Sammy (1913–1993)

US song lyricist. His career took him from Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood and Broadway. For over 20 years he provided Frank Sinatra with material, including ‘Come Fly With Me’ (1958) and ‘My Kind of Town’ (1964). His chief collaborators were composers Jule Styne and Jimmy van Heusen (1913–1990).

Cahn, born in New York, began as a fiddle player in a dance band, where he met his first songwriting partner, Saul Chaplin (1912–1997). Their biggest success was the Andrews Sisters' 1937 hit ‘Bei Mir Bist Du Schön’ (based on a Yiddish folk song). The same year Cahn moved to Hollywood, writing songs for films, among them ‘Three Coins in the Fountain’ (1954) with Styne and ‘The Tender Trap’ (1955) with van Heusen, both for Sinatra. Cahn prided himself on writing only for money and putting a lyric together in a few minutes. When his style went out of fashion, he began making appearances as a raconteur, performing his own songs. His autobiography is named after one of them – I Should Care (1974).