- published: 12 Feb 2015
- views: 169221
Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939) is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard Greenfield and Phil Cody.
Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Mac Sedaka (aka Sedacca), a taxi driver, was of Sephardic Turkish-Jewish descent. ("Sedaka" and "Sedacca" are variants of tzedaka, which translates in both Hebrew and Arabic as the word charity). Sedaka's mother, Eleanor (née Appel), was of Polish-Russian Jewish descent (or generally referred to as Ashkenazi-Jewish descent). He grew up in the then-heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach, which lies on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Sedaka is a cousin of singer Eydie Gormé.
He demonstrated musical aptitude in his second-grade choral class, and when his teacher sent a note home suggesting he take piano lessons, his mother took a part-time job in an Abraham & Straus department store for six months to pay for a second-hand upright. In 1947, he auditioned successfully for a piano scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music's Preparatory Division for Children, which he attended on Saturdays. His mother wanted him to become a renowned classical pianist such as the contemporary of the day, Van Cliburn, but Sedaka was discovering pop music. When Sedaka was 13, a neighbor heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, Howard Greenfield, an aspiring poet and lyricist. They became two of the legendary Brill Building's composers.
Actors: Kathy Baker (actress), Dana Delany (actress), Frank Whaley (actor), Brett Rice (actor), B.B. King (actor), Mike Pniewski (actor), J. Michael Hunter (actor), Gerald McRaney (actor), Troy Donahue (actor), James Coburn (actor), Leo Burmester (actor), Todd Davis (actor), James Garner (actor), Maggie Gyllenhaal (actress), Elinor Donahue (actress),
Genres: Drama,Away... away
I just can't wait to fall asleep
I can't wait for night each day
'Cause when the lights are low
No matter where you go,
You're only forty winks
Away... away
No matter how far you may be,
Believe me darling when I say,
The oceans in between
I cross them on a dream
'Cause you're just forty winks
Away... away
There's a land of enchantment
Just beyond my pillowcase,
And I go there 'cause I know there
I'll be in your sweet embrace.
So till you come back home again,
Until you're in my arms to stay,
It's kinda nice to know,
I turn the lights down low,
And you're just forty winks
Away... away...
[Fade out]