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34Joe
McMahon Jr. is a late bloomer. In 1999, at age 83, he realized a
decades-old dream to become a singer/songwriter and put out his
first CD, “Secondhand Heart For Sale”—a compilation
of 11 love songs, eight of which he wrote more than 60 years ago.
Trunk songs, he calls them. “Because that’s where I kept
them all those years,” he says.
As a boy growing up in Pittsfield, Mass., McMahon learned to play
the mandolin, the banjo, and, later, the saxophone. He formed his
first dance band—The Blue Rhythm Boys—at age 15 and performed
with the PA Riveters while at Andover.
After graduating from the academy, McMahon attended the University
of Wisconsin, where he joined the Haresfoot Club, a campus group
that regularly put on musical shows.
During a fishing trip with his college roommate, McMahon met Albert
Cole, a first cousin of McMahon’s idol, Cole Porter. The cousin
arranged for McMahon to show some of his lyrics to the famous songwriter,
who told him, “Joe, you keep writing, young man. You have good
stuff.”
But McMahon got sidetracked. Soon after graduating from college,
he joined the Army, got married and started a family. He eventually
settled into a job as an advertising executive for Jos. Schlitz
Brewing Co. He retired from advertising in 1981 and immediately
embarked on a second career as an executive recruiter with Korn/Ferry
International.
Medical problems, including prostate cancer and multiple eye operations
that left him legally blind, forced him to retire in 1997. Life
looked bleak. Then, the muse returned.
He began writing songs again, including the title track to “Secondhand
Heart For Sale,” and from there, the pieces started falling
into place.
Through a mutual friend, McMahon was introduced to veteran music
producer Jimmy Wisner and Ann Johns Ruckert, who agreed to produce
the CD.
“It’s been such a thrill,” says McMahon. “What
I’ve learned is, distribution in today’s market doesn’t
do me any good. I’m not the Backstreet Boys or Britney Spears.
My music appeals to a certain kind of people.”
The music—sweet and simple—is reminiscent of days gone
by, when young men wooed women with lyrics like “Dora, with
that come-hither smile/Dora, with those eyes that beguile.”
But there’s also a more contemporary song titled “.com
Blues” that bemoans the invention of the Internet with the
verse “Got online to make my life/a little easier,/now it’s
getting cheesier/A fatal mistake.”
McMahon says he couldn’t be happier knowing he has finally
accomplished the one thing he wanted to do all his life. He recently
finished recording his second CD, titled “You’re Something
to Live For—More Songs of Joe McMahon Jr.” The new songs
are slated to be featured in an off-Broadway musical, currently
in production.
“Dreams get lost,” says McMahon, “and sometimes,
when we’re lucky, they are found again.”
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