William Raskin was born in New York City on November 3, 1896. He was educated at New York Public School 83 in
Morris Park, Bronx, and began his career writing for the
New York Morning Telegraph. He then worked as a clerk in various
Tin Pan Alley music publishing firms before transitioning into a career as songwriter. In 1921 he co-authored the song "I Found a Rose in the Devil's Garden" with
Fred Fisher. It was made into a popular
piano roll by pianist and composer
Pete Wendling who also arranged the music for that roll. It was also recorded for the
Victor Talking Machine Company by the Sterling Trio in 1921; a group consisting of
Albert Campbell,
Henry Burr, and John H. Meyer. With the advent of
sound film in the late 1920s, Raskin relocated to California and was one the first songwriters to work on
Hollywood films. For
Paramount Pictures he co-authored the song "If I Give Up the Saxophone" with
Sammy Fain and
Irving Kahal for the 1929
short film A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic in which it was sung by
Eddie Cantor. The song was also performed in another 1929 Paramount short
The Fatal Forceps starring
Ford Sterling; and in another 1929 short film,
Syncopated Trial, which was released by
Pathé Exchange and used a script by
Harry Delmar. The team of Fain, Kahal, and Raskin also co-wrote the song "
Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine" which was featured in the
Vitaphone Varieties film series in the 1930 short
Wedding Belles starring Lorraine Howard and Florence Newton. Raskin co-authored the 1937 song "
That's When Your Heartaches Begin" which was initially recorded without much success by singer Bob Goday with the bandleader
Shep Fields. It later became a hit song for
The Ink Spots (1941,
Decca Records), and an even bigger one for
Elvis Presley whose 1957 recording of the song charted at number 57 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Raskin died on April 8, 1942 in New York City at the age of 45. In the year of his death he lived in a residence on
Washington Avenue in
Brooklyn. ==Songs==