We were saddened to hear of the great Richard M. Sherman’s passing at the venerable age of 95. The magical hour we spent interviewing this impossibly sweet and engaging man for the podcast back in 2013 remains a very special memory, and we count the resulting episode among our firm favourites.

Sodajerker On Songwriting, Episode 38 with Richard M. Sherman

Without a doubt, Richard and his late brother Robert were two of the towering talents of 20th century popular music and produced some of its most enduring compositions; musically and lyrically dexterous, dazzlingly smart and funny and playful but never at the expense of emotional impact, the songs they wrote together – for Disney and beyond – appealed to all ages and have spanned generations. Though it’s fairly well documented that ‘The Boys’’ personal relationship was at times a rocky one – so often the case with siblings – creatively they were a match made in heaven.

At the end of our interview, Richard asked us to send him “a CD” of the episode when it was done, and gave us his address in Beverly Hills (expressing mild embarrassment that his zip code was ‘90210’ ). We popped one in the post, and not too long afterwards received the following reply via email:

Dear Simon & Brian,

Loved the podcast & I want to thank you for the lovely use of the songs to punctuate the deluge of words I spilled out. You boys do a great show. Much good luck to you in all your future endeavors.

Your fan,
Richard S.

High praise indeed. What a gent. Rest in peace, sir.