The blogger behind Hell’s Kitchen Dispatch was in attendance at our Lyrics & Lyricists tribute to Frank Loesser Monday night and found tears streaming down his face during David Yazbek and Julia Murney’s rendition of “The Inchworm,” from the 1952 children’s classic Hans Christian Anderson:

Now some of you reading this may do an online search to get a taste of the song or refresh your memory. And hearing it you’ll probably think to yourself, what a sap. But the thing is, I’m really not sentimental. Like most other adults, time and experience have pretty well beaten that out of me. I can’t tell you why I cried, or where those tears came from. Maybe it was another me, reminding this jaded and middle-aged “sophisticate” that I was once a kid who was a sucker for haunting melodies in three-quarter time. I guess this time around, the lyrics sunk in.

(You can sample the melody here.)

Next up in our long-running Lyrics & Lyricists series is a tribute to English-born cabaret singer Mabel Mercer.