Clifford "Cliff" Hess was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio on June 19, 1894. While a young teenager, he began his career as a pianist on passenger
riverboats traversing the
Mississippi River. He got a job in the Chicago branch of the music publisher
Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, Inc. where he met the songwriter
Irving Berlin. By 1911 he was working as Berlin's secretary, and was performing on
Broadway as Berlin's accompanist with Berlin singing his own tunes in the Spring of 1911. Hess lived in a New York City apartment with Berlin during their time working together, and they would often stay up late at night working on music together. Hess served as Berlin' s secretary until 1918. Berlin, while an exceptional pianist,
played entirely by ear and could not read or write
music notation. It was Hess's job to translate what Berlin played by ear onto the page in order to make printable
sheet music possible. However, Hess's job went beyond simple transposition and he was essentially Berlin's
music editor. Their process involved Hess transposing Berlin's songs into easier keys and simplifying tunes so that they could be more accessible for commercial sale. Musicologist
Charles Hamm noted that Hess likely contributed significantly to the finished product of Berlin's tunes written during this period. Hamm stated the following: "It would be impossible to document precisely what Hess contributed to the final versions of Berlin's songs. The piano accompaniments were, in all likelihood, mostly his work. Lyrics and tunes were Berlin's inventions, and various accounts agree that he knew what harmony he wanted as well." In addition to his work with Berlin, Hess also worked for
Tin Pan Alley music publishing firms, and as an executive for multiple record labels. He became a member of
ASCAP in 1919. His most successful works as a songwriter were "Homesickness Blues" (1917) and "Freckles. Other songs he wrote included "Don't You Remember the Day", "Huckleberry Finn", "I'm in Heaven (When I'm in My Mother's Arms)", "I Used to Call Her Baby", "Sweet Marimba", "
When Alexander Takes His Ragtime Band to France", and "While the Years Roll By". Many of his songs were recorded for
Victor Records and
Columbia Records. Hess's song "Cairo" was interpolated into the 1916 Broadway musical
Step This Way, and his song "Marimba" was used in
The Greenwich Village Follies of 1920. He wrote the score to the 1933 film
Mystery of the Wax Museum, and wrote all of the songs in the 1936 musical film
The Black Network. Hess lived in
East Orange, New Jersey for several years. He died in
Cameron County, Texas on June 8, 1959. ==Songs==