'April in Fairbanks, there's nothing more appealing, you'll feel your blood congealing'

It’s the end of a cold winter, time to think about that nearly forgotten showstopper, “April in Fairbanks,” one of the lesser-known tunes of composer Murray Grand.

Grand, a theatrical regular who wrote the song for “New Faces of 1956,” died in 2007, at 87. In 2002, I wrote this column for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner about one of his lesser-known compositions.

I enjoyed interviewing the fast-talking New Yorker, who nearly hung up on me and was irritated because he thought I was trying to sell him something. After assuring him on that score, he relaxed and called me “kiddo.”

April 6, 2002:
Murray Grand has written maybe 400 songs over the years for night club acts and the stage, the most famous of which may be "Guess Who I Saw Today" performed by the likes of Nancy Wilson and Ray Charles.

Grand, who will be 83 this summer, lives in Fort Lauderdale and has many hits to his credit.

Since this is April in Fairbanks, I called him up the other day to talk with him, not about one of his hits, but about "April in Fairbanks," a song that was recently re-recorded and released on an album by actor/singer Mandy Patinkin.

I had to talk fast because Grand was on the verge of cutting me off before I started, mistaking me for someone trying to sell him credit cards.

But when I established that I knew him to be the composer of "April in Fairbanks," he relaxed enough to talk about it.

The song, for those who don't know it, begins:

"Autumn in New York, And April in Paris, Are no longer chic.

Winters in Mallorca, And summers in Capri, Are gone, so to speak.

The people who have the wherewithal, Have found a new place to have a ball.

They've deserted the Champs-Elysees, The Piazza d'Spagna, Is no longer gay.

They say their thanks for Fairbanks, Alaska."

In another verse Grand writes that the "heavenly weather will turn your skin to leather and lock your jaws together, in April in Fairbanks."

He said he's glad he wrote the song, even though he had no personal knowledge of Fairbanks in April or any other month.

"I've never been there but I imagined it," he said. "It was written for a nightclub act and it went over well."

He thinks now that he's "a little too long in the tooth" to make his first trip to Alaska, so he'll stick with his imagination.

Most people who live here would agree that his portrayal is imaginary, but then again he wrote the lyrics in about 20 minutes in 1956.

"I don't always get ideas fast, but once I get an idea it seems to write itself," he said.

I told him that the temperature was in the 20s as we were speaking and dropping down to zero at night. "I'd have a stroke," he said. "I've been living in Florida for 13 years. I freeze if I go to New York now."

He had the same attitude nearly a half-century ago when he wrote, "April in Fairbanks, there's nothing more appealing. You feel your blood congealing, In April in Fairbanks."

His song was part of the musical revue "New Faces of 1956" and it was performed by Jane Connell, who appeared on stage in a dog sled. The show ran for 220 performances at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

"I was just fooling around with April songs, making fun of them. What is there to say about April that's never been said. April in Fairbanks is it," Grand said.

"It was just a takeoff on 'April in Paris' and the other April songs, like 'April in Portugal' and 'I'll Remember April."'

"We've had a slew of April songs over the years," Grand said.

"I thought the last place in the world where anyone would go for April would be Fairbanks," he said. Then perhaps remembering where I was in April, he added graciously, "But maybe not. I don't know."

The song was supposed to get a laugh and it did.

"I thought it worked. It stopped the show. When it's a showstopper it works. I've also written songs that went right into the orchestra pit," he said.

Grand said when "April in Fairbanks" was performed on TV the singer appeared in a floral dress at the start and as she sang it began to snow. At the end she was shivering as she concluded with the words, "April in Fairbanks; I simply can't believe it. I know I'll never leave it. Alive.”

Grand said the Hi-Lo's did a great version of the song in about 1958, but it hasn't received much attention for many years and it never earned him a lot of money.

"People don't walk down the street singing 'April in Fairbanks,"' he said.

The tune has had a slight comeback recently, however, as Patinkin recorded it for an album he released last fall, "Kidults."

Grand said he doesn't know Patinkin and "I haven't a clue" why he recorded it.

Grand, who has been writing songs since he was 17, said he hitchhiked to New York in the 1930s, heard Billie Holiday and the experience changed his idea of music. His songs are still being recorded by others and he writes when the spirit moves him. Paula West of San Francisco told jazzreview.com that Grand's "You Will Be Loved" is one of the favorite songs on her third CD, "Come What May."

As he wrapped up our conversation about April in Fairbanks, he said, "That's my story kiddo."