Occasionally, I discover that I’ve never heard of someone whose work I’ve known in depth and loved dearly for most of my life. Jack Lawrence (1912-2009) is the latest in this category. I recently wrote about how he composed an unusually fine military march during his World War II service. Rereading my own piece some weeks later, I wondered whether he ever produced anything else. When I investigated … oh, my goodness. How had I missed this guy?
July 4’s Bastiat’s Window essay, “9 Uniforms, 9 Marches, 250 Years,” described the official marches of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, and U.S. Maritime Service. I called the Maritime Service’s anthem, “Heave Ho! My Lads! Heave Ho!”:
“[a] stirring march which, from a purely musical standpoint, is one of the best-crafted songs of the whole series”
I noted that the piece was composed in 1943 by USMS Lieutenant Junior Grade Jack Lawrence. How nice, I thought, that some low-ranking officer wrote such a fine piece and that the Maritime Service recognized and honored his craftsmanship. A while after publishing the article, I wondered whether this evidently talented musician wrote any other songs after his service as a mariner. Turns out that he was at the very center of popular music for 76 years—with one top hit after another.
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