Label him eclectic, mercurial, peripatetic, or simply promiscuous, it matters not to Marshall Barer, who over the years has gleefully mated his lyrics to the melodies of Leroy Anderson, Michele Brourman, Hoagy Carmichael, Gordon Connell, J. Fred Coots, Vernon Duke, Duke Ellington, Michael Feinstein, Dean Fuller, Ronny Graham, Fred Hellerman, Burton Lane,Michel Legrand, Michael Leonard, Hugh Martin, Anita Nye, Lance Ong, Norman Paris, Mary Rodgers, the Davids (Raksin, Ross, Shire), William Roy, Bruce Scott, Ralph Strain, Joseph Thalken, Kurt Weill, and Alec Wilder -- not to mention his own. While vouchsafing no "actual-all-time-number-one-favorite" he confesses that, at this juncture, he finds himself "leaning toward" Ms. Rodgers, with whom he has written ONCE UPON A MATTRESS "several times."