They Left Their Hearts in San Francisco: The Lives of Songwriters George Cory and Douglass Cross

by Bill Christine

Overview

George Cory and Douglass Cross wrote just one hit song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." They were unknown before they wrote it—and were unknown after it became a standard.

Their lives were a tangle. They eked out a meager living in San Francisco and Brooklyn for 15 years before Tony Bennett serendipitously came across the song, which had languished. His recording revived his career and made the songwriters rich.

Wealth didn't beget happiness. The duo broke up. Cross drank himself to death. Cory died from drinking as well (widely believed to be a suicide). In 2016, San Francisco dedicated a monument to the city's official song in front of the iconic Fairmont Hotel—a statue of Tony Bennett.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476669007
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	12/21/2017
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Bill Christine won nine national writing awards and shared in a Pulitzer Prize during his 25 years with the Los Angeles Times. His books include Roberto!, a biography about baseball great Roberto Clemente. He lives in Torrance, California.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface
 1. The Puzzling Death of George Cory
 2. Walter K. Hinton
 3. Westward, Ho
 4. Douglass Cross Writes a Will
 5. A Song Grows in Brooklyn
 6. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
 7. The George Cory Ensemble: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
 8. “The Phantom”: Tony Bennett’s Secret Weapon
 9. “The middle of nowhere”
10. December 28, 1961
11. String Along with Mitch
12. The Battle of San Francisco
13. City Ditties
14. Suppositions
15. Old Man River
Appendix I: Douglass Cross’ and George Cory’s Wills
Appendix II: Other One-Hit Wonders
Appendix III: The Richest Songs of All Time
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Meticulously researched...a superlative study of a song that has not left our hearts in the course of over half a century. It belongs on the shelf of all those who are interested in the Great American Songbook.”—ARSC Journal; “Christine’s book is a dual biography of the guys who wrote Bennett’s signature song, ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco.’ But the book is much more than a topsy-turvy Horatio Alger saga (rags-to-riches-to-booze). Christine writes in the first person, like a real-life detective novel, about his search for the truth about the star-crossed lives of the composer and lyricist...a captivating mixture of intrigue and double-crosses.”—Ed Goldman, daily columnist, Sacramento Business Journal.

From the Publisher