Broadway Musical Lyricist Fred Ebb Dies

Fred Ebb, the Broadway lyricist whose partnership with John Kander brought many wonderful songs and musicals, such as Chicago and Cabaret, died at 76 in New York. Ebb was a product of the city, growing up on the Lower East Side and attendting NYU and Columbia. Kander and Ebb's inventive lyrics and music helped usher in a newer era of bringing grittier and more complicated stories to the Broadway musical; Jesse McKinley writes in the NY Times obituary of Kander, "Mr. Kander and Mr. Ebb were known for their sometimes saucy, sometimes sincere subject matter, their often pointed political undertones, and more than anything their uncanny ability to fuse sharp lyrics and catchy melodies into hummable, quotable musical theater."

Indeed. Ebb was also responsible for some of the most famous words about our fair city, when he and Kander wrote "New York, New York" for Martin Scorsese's musical:

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
These vagabond shoes
Are longing to stray
And make a brand new start of it
New York, New York
I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps
To find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap
These little town blues
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New York.

Gothamist will miss you, Fred Ebb. Ebb's work as noted by the New York Public Library and Internet Broadway Database.