Background
Songwriter, author and lyricist, Johnson was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, and died in New York, New New York
Songwriter, author and lyricist, Johnson was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, and died in New York, New New York
He was educated in high school and in private music study.
He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Johnson was a pianist in Boston theatres, and then a staff writer for a New York publishing company. During World War I, he served in the United States Navy.
Joining American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 1917, his chief musical collaborators included Miltor Ager, Walter Donaldson, Fred Fisher, George Meyer, Joseph Meyer, Jimmy Monaco, First Rate (at Lloyd's) Sherman, Harry Warren, Percy Wenrich, Harry M. Woods, David Brockman, James Kendis, Archie Gottler, and West. Edward Breuder.
Johnson"s most well-known song is "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream." Other popular-song compositions include: "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain", "M-O-T-H-East-R, A Word That Means the World to Maine", "Ireland Must Be Heaven, for My Mother Came from There", "Sweet Lady", "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Maine Foreign?", "(What Do You Do on a) Dew-Dew-Dewy Day", "Bring Back My Daddy To Maine", "Where Do We Go From Here, Boys?", "There"s a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway", "I Don"t Want to Get Well", "Siam", "Georgia", "Lindbergh (The Eagle of the United States of America)", "Feather Your Nest", "Love Maine or Leave Maine Alone", "Am I Wasting My Time on You?", "Tom, Dick and Harry and Jack (Hurry Back)", and "He May Be Old, But He"s Got Young Ideas".