Herb Bermann is an American lyricist, screenwriter, and actor. He is best known for co-writing the 1967 debut album '' Safe as Milk'' for

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band The Magic Band was the backing band of American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Captain Beefheart between 1967 and 1982. The rotating lineup featured dozens of performers, many of whom became known by nicknames given to them by Beefh ...

. The second album ''

Strictly Personal ''Strictly Personal'' is the second album by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band. It was originally released in October 1968 as the first album on the Blue Thumb Records label. It was released nearly a year after the band had taken to the stud ...

'' featured four of Bermann's songs, however he was uncredited: "Safe As Milk", "Trust Us," "Gimme Dat Harp Boy," and "Kandy Korn" A screenplay he co-wrote with

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

became the inspiration for

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

's 1970 album ''

After the Gold Rush ''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...

''. A book featuring his known and previously unpublished lyrics, ''The Mystery Man from the Magic Band'', was published in 2015 by

Brass Tacks Press Brass Tacks Press, based in Los Angeles, has published over 50 books of poetry, prose, and comics since it was founded in 2002 by poets Robert Campbell, Pablo Capra, and Richard McDowell. A focus of Brass Tacks Press has been to publish books a ...

Selected works

Discography

* '' Safe as Milk'' (1967),

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band The Magic Band was the backing band of American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Captain Beefheart between 1967 and 1982. The rotating lineup featured dozens of performers, many of whom became known by nicknames given to them by Beefh ...

, Label:

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundin ...

, Producers:

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (born June 18, 1942) is an American record producer. He began as a performer in his adolescence while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late 1960s and early 1970 ...

and Bob Krasnow. * ''

'' (1968) uncredited,

, Label:

Blue Thumb Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obse ...

, Producer: Bob Krasnow.

Films

* ''Malibu Song'' (2006), Director: Natalie Lettner and Werner Hanak, Producer: Eurotrash Productions.

Books

* ''The Mystery Man from the Magic Band: Captain Beefheart's Writing Partner Revealed'' (2015), Herb Bermann, Introduction by John French, Interview by Derek Laskie, Foreword by

Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...

, Publisher:

Awards

* 1971

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

(Outstanding Teleplay) – ''The Psychiatrist: Par for the Course'', producer (

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

), director

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

References

External links

* American lyricists American screenwriters 21st-century American male actors Captain Beefheart Living people Year of birth missing (living people) The Magic Band members {{US-entertainer-stub