There are many memorable and successful song writing duos in the recent history of music — George and Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Lennon and McCartney, Gilbert and Sullivan, Lerner and Loewe are a few pairs of names that come to mind. But somewhere near the top of that list, you’d have to make room for Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. I had only a vague idea of who they were and what they had done before I started producing Bob’s interview with them. Let’s just say it’s a good thing they have most of an hour to discuss SOME of the songs they’ve written together since meeting in 1950. Leiber and Stoller are the men behind hits as disparate as “Kansas City”, “Stand By Me”, “On Broadway”, “Yakety Yak”, “I’m a Woman” and “Hound Dog.” They wrote that last one for blues singer Big Mama Thornton, she did okay with it, then Elvis Presley recorded it. “Hound Dog” is also the name of the new autobiography co-written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. And to further impress you, here is the list of their songs I used, in the order they appear in the interview:

Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley

Hard Times by Charlie Brown

Kansas City by Wilbert Harrison

Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton

Hound Dog by Elvis Presley

Yakety Yak by The Coasters

Poison Ivy by The Coasters

Love Potion #9 by The Clovers

There Goes My Baby by The Drifters

On Broadway by The Drifters

Stand By Me by Ben E. King

Corrina, Corrina by Ray Peterson

Spanish Harlem by Ben E. King

I’m a Woman by Peggy Lee

Is That All There Is? by Peggy Lee

Smokey Joe’s Cafe by The Robins

I hope you enjoy the stroll down memory lane provided by Bob, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

-Chad