His biggest non-jingle hit was "There's No Tomorrow", a parody of "O Sole Mio", which was popularized by Tony Martin in the film Two Tickets to Broadway; it spent 27 weeks on the Billboard charts in 1949, peaking at #2.
Carr's other popular song compositions include "Bell Bottom Blues", "Hotel Happiness", "Herthquake", "Hey There Lonely Girl", "Your Socks Don't Match", "A Man Could Be a Wonderful Thing", "Goblins in the Steeple", "Big Name Button", "If You Smile at the Sun", "I'd Do It All Again", "Skiddle-Diddle-Dee", "Should I Wait?
Artists who have recorded Carr's popular music include Brook Benton, Teresa Brewer, Vikki Carr, Vic Damone, Roy Hamilton, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Tony Martin, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell, Patti Page, Gene Pitney, Louis Prima, Buddy Rich, Nina Simone, Mel Tormé, Bobby Vinton, and Anita Baker.
In 1938, Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra recorded Carr's instrumental composition "Frisco Fog", which prefigured Duke Ellington's celebrated 1940 "Ko-Ko".
Carr also composed the off-Broadway musical The Secret Life of Walter Mitty based on the short story of the same name by James Thurber, which opened at The Players Theatre in Greenwich Village on October 26, 1964, and ran for 96 performances.