Download or read book Listening to Classic American Popular Songs written by Allen Forte and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the twenties, thirties, and forties, now-legendary American songwriters and lyricists created a repertoire of popular songs, songs that have captured the hearts of generations of music lovers. George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael and many others, along with such lyricists as Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, and Dorothy Fields, produced extraordinary songs of signal importance to the American musical heritage. In this book Allen Forte shares his love of American popular song. He discusses in detail twenty-three songs, ranging from Gershwin’s “Fascinating Rhythm” (1924) to Irving Berlin’s “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” (1947), guiding readers and listeners toward a deeper appreciation of this vital and engaging music. Forte writes for the general reader, assuming no background other than a familiarity with basic music notation. Each song is discussed individually and includes complete lyrics and simple leadsheet notation. Forte discusses the songs’ distinctive musical features and their sophisticated, often touching and witty lyrics. Readers can follow the music while they listen to the accompanying compact disc, which was specially recorded for this volume by baritone Richard Lalli and pianist-arranger Gary Chapman, with Allen Forte, pianist-arranger for “Embraceable You” and “Come Rain or Come Shine”. Learn about these favorite songs and more: “How Long Has This Been Going On?” “What Is This Thing Called Love?” “Embraceable You” “Autumn in New York” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” “The Nearness of You” “That Old Black Magic” “Come Rain or Come Shine”
Download or read book Great Men of American Popular Song written by David Ewen and published by Prentice Hall. This book was released on 1972 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American popular song has undergone as many changes and developments as America herself. Here David Ewen explores the whole history and evolution of American popular music from 1746 to the present day. Through the biographies, personal portraits, and critical evaluations of thirty of its leading creators, the reader is given a perspective on how the American popular song developed over the years and gains an insight into the birth and evolution of the media (theater, radio, television, movies, etc.) in which these songs came into being. Within the biographies, such basic styles as the national ballad, the war song, ragtime songs, the blues, show tunes, movie tunes, and the songs of protest are described, while more than passing notice is given to the changing song lyric and the men who brought about this change. The result is a crisply-written, exceedingly knowledgeable work of encyclopedic scope and range that discusses and explains the currents and crosscurrents in the evolution of American popular music. -- From publisher's description.
Download or read book American Popular Song Edited and with an Introd by James T Maher written by Alec Wilder and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book American Popular Song Lyricists written by Michael Whorf and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume (a companion to American Popular Song Composers), 39 leading American lyricists from the Tin Pan Alley, Hollywood and Broadway of the 1920s to the 1960s discuss their careers and share the stories of creating many of the most beloved songs in American music. Interviewed for radio in the 1970s, they include such writing teams as Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, and such individuals as Harold Adamson, E.Y. Harburg, Gus Kahn, Leo Robin and Paul Francis Webster. Photographs and rare sheet music reproductions accompany the interviews.
Download or read book The Voices that Are Gone written by Jon W. Finson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-07-03 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this unique and readable study, Jon Finson views the mores and values of nineteenth-century Americans as they appear in their popular songs. The author sets forth lyricists' and composers' notions of courtship, technology, death, African Americans, Native Americans, and European ethnicity by grouping songs topically. He goes on to explore the interaction between musical style and lyrics within each topic. The lyrics and changing musical styles present a vivid portrait of nineteenth-century America. The composers discussed in the book range from Henry Russell ("Woodman, Spare That Tree"), Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna"), and Dan Emmett ("I Wish I Was in Dixie's Land"), to George M. Cohan and Maude Nugent ("Sweet Rosie O'Grady"), and Gussie Lord Davis ("In the Baggage Coach Ahead"). Readers will recognize songs like "Pop Goes the Weasel," "The Yellow Rose of Texas," "The Fountain in the Park," "After the Ball," "A Bicycle Built for Two," and many others which gain significance by being placed in the larger context of American history.
Download or read book American Popular Song written by Alec Wilder and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Composer Alec Wilder's American Popular: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 is widely recognized as the definitive book on American popular song. In this volume, which achieved immediate praise and recognition upon its publication, Wilder discusses some 800 songs from the American Songbook, offering a composer's insight, acceccible music analysis, as well has his strong personal biases. Nearly fifty years later, this classic study has received a much-needed revision. While leaving Wilder's colorful prose and brazen opinions intact, language, style, and musical nomenclature have been updated to reflect current usage. The musical examples mostly remain, but piano score has been replaced with lead-sheet notation: melody, chords, and lyrics. Rhythmic notation has also been adjusted to follow present-day norms. Additionally, a final chapter has been added, which includes more than fifty songs that were not in the original, seeking to achieve greater representation for women and African American composers, as well as including several of Wilder's own songs"--
Download or read book America s Songs written by Philip Furia and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-05-12 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America's Songs tells the stories behind the most beloved popular songs of the last century. We all have songs that have a special meaning in our lives; hearing them evokes a special time or place. Little wonder that these special songs have become enduring classics. Nothing brings the roarin '20s to life like Tea for Two or I'm just Wild About Harry; the Great Depression is evoked in all of its pain and misery in songs like Brother Can You Spare a Dime?; God Bless America revives the powerful hope that American democracy promised to the world during the dark days of World War II; Young at Heart evokes the postwar optimism of the '50s. And then there are the countless songs of love, new romance, and heartbreak: As Time Goes By, Always, Am I Blue...the list is endless. Along with telling the stories behind these songs, America's Songs suggests, simply and succinctly, what makes a song great. The book illuminates the way each great song melds words and music - sentiment and melody - into a seamless whole. America's Songs also traces the fascinating but mysterious process of collaboration, the give-and-take between two craftsmen, a composer and a lyricist, as they combined their talents to create a song. For anyone interested in the history of the songs that America loves, America's Songs will make for fascinating reading.
Download or read book The American Song Book written by Philip Furia and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American Song Book, Volume I: The Tin Pan Alley Era is the first in a projected five-volume series of books that will reprint original sheet music, including covers, of songs that constitute the enduring standards of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, and other lyricists and composers of what has been called the "Golden Age" of American popular music. These songs have done what popular songs are not supposed to do--stayed popular ... As such, these songs constitute the closest thing America has to a repertory of enduring classical music. In addition to reprinting the sheet music for these classic songs, authors Philip Furia and Laurie Patterson place these songs in historical context with essays about the sheet-music publishing industry known as Tin Pan Alley, the emergence of American musical comedy on Broadway, and the 'talkie' revolution that made possible the Hollywood musical. The authors also provide biographical sketches of songwriters, performers, and impresarios such as Florenz Ziegfeld. In addition, they analyze the lyrical and musical artistry of each song and relate anecdotes, sometimes amusing, sometimes poignant, about how the songs were created. The American Songbook is a book that can be read for enjoyment on its own or be propped on the piano to be played and sung"--Back cover.
Download or read book Easy to Remember written by William Zinsser and published by David R. Godine Publisher. This book was released on 2006 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this warm and affectionate book, William Zinsser describes his lifelong love affair with American popular song and the American musical theater.
Download or read book A Fine Romance written by David Lehman and published by Schocken. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In A Fine Romance, David Lehman looks at the formation of the American songbook—the timeless numbers that became jazz standards, iconic love songs, and sound tracks to famous movies—and explores the extraordinary fact that this songbook was written almost exclusively by Jews. An acclaimed poet, editor, and cultural critic, David Lehman hears America singing—with a Yiddish accent. He guides us through America in the golden age of song, when “Embraceable You,” “White Christmas,” “Easter Parade,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” “My Romance,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Stormy Weather,” and countless others became nothing less than the American sound track. The stories behind these songs, the shows from which many of them came, and the shows from which many of them came, and the composers and lyricists who wrote them give voice to a specifically American saga of love, longing, assimilation, and transformation. Lehman’s analytical skills, wit, and exuberance infuse this book with an energy and a tone like no other: at once sharply observant, personally searching, and attuned to the songs that all of us love. He helps us understand how natural it should be that Wizard of Oz composer Harold Arlen was the son of a cantor who incorporated “Over the Rainbow” into his Sabbath liturgy, and why Cole Porter—the rare non-Jew in this pantheon of musicians who wrote these classic songs shaped America even as America was shaping them. (Part of the Jewish Encounter series)
Download or read book Spreadin Rhythm Around written by David A Jasen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spreadin' Rhythm Around: Black Popular Songwriters, 1880-1930 is a classic work on a little-studied subject in American music history: the contribution of African-American songwriters to the world of popular song. Hailed by Publishers Weekly as "thoroughly researched and entertainingly written," this work documents the careers of songwriters like James A. Bland ("Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny"), Bert Williams ("Nobody"), W. C. Handy ("St. Louis Blues"), Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake ("I'm Just Wild About Harry"), and many more. Richly illustrated with rare photographs from sheet music, newspapers, and other unique sources, the book documents an entire era of performance when black singers, dancers, and actors were active on the New York stage. In sheer depth of research, new information, and full coverage, Spreadin' Rhythm Around offers a comprehensive picture of the contributions of black musicians to American popular song. For anyone interested in the history of jazz, pop song, or Broadway, this book will be a revelation.
Download or read book They re Playing Our Song written by Max Wilk and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Listening To Classic American Popular Songs written by Allen Forte and published by . This book was released on 2004-03-01 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 20s, 30s, & 40s, American songwriters & lyricists created a repertoire of popular songs that have captured the hearts of generations of music lovers. George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, & many others, along with such lyricists as Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, & Dorothy Fields, produced songs of importance to the American musical heritage. This book discusses in detail 23 songs, guiding readers & listeners toward a deeper appreciation of this vital music. Each song is discussed individually & includes complete lyrics & simple leadsheet. Readers can follow the music while they listen to the accompanying CD, with 27 songs which were specially recorded for this volume.
Download or read book Classic American Popular Song written by David Jenness and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000 addresses the question: What happened to American popular song after 1950? There are numerous books available on the so-called Golden Age of popular song, but none that follow the development of popular song styles in the second half of the 20th century. While 1950 is seen as the end of an era, the tap of popular song creation hardly ran dry after that date. Many of the classic songwriters continued to work through the following decades: Porter was active until 1958; Rodgers until the later 1970s; Arlen until 1976. Some of the greatest lyricists of the classic era continued to do outstanding and successful work: Johnny Mercer and Dorothy Fields, for example, continued to produce lyrics through the early '70s. These works could be explained as simply the Golden Age's last stand, a refusal of major figures to give in to a new reality. But then, how can we explain the outstanding careers of Frank Loesser, Cy Coleman, Jerry Herman, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Fred Kander and John Ebb, Jule Styne, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, and several other major figures? Where did Stephen Sondheim come from? For anyone interested in the development of American popular song -- and its survival -- this book will make fascinating reading.
Download or read book Sweet and Lowdown written by Warren Craig and published by Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 1978 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brief biographies of songwriters, with lists of songs and of the shows or films in which the songs were first presented.
Download or read book Stephen Foster Co Lyrics of the First Great American Songwriters written by Steven Foster and published by American Poets Project. This book was released on 2010-04-15 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America's first professional songwriter, Foster wrote lyrics that have entered our country's cultural bloodstream. Emerson presents a fully and delightfully annotated selection of Foster's most famous songs, and augments them with lyrics that either influenced Foster or were inspired by his genius.
Download or read book The American Song Book written by Philip Furia and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-02 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American Song Book, Volume I: The Tin Pan Alley Era is the first in a projected five-volume series of books that will reprint original sheet music, including covers, of songs that constitute the enduring standards of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, and other lyricists and composers of what has been called the "Golden Age" of American popular music. These songs have done what popular songs are not supposed to do-stayed popular. They have been reinterpreted year after year, generation after generation, by jazz artists such as Charlie Parker and Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. In the 1950s, Frank Sinatra began recording albums of these standards and was soon followed by such singers as Tony Bennet, Doris Day, Willie Nelson, and Linda Ronstadt. In more recent years, these songs have been reinterpreted by Rod Stewart, Harry Connick, Jr., Carly Simon, Lady GaGa, K.D. Laing, Paul McCartney, and, most recently, Bob Dylan. As such, these songs constitute the closest thing America has to a repertory of enduring classical music. In addition to reprinting the sheet music for these classic songs, authors Philip Furia and Laurie Patterson place these songs in historical context with essays about the sheet-music publishing industry known as Tin Pan Alley, the emergence of American musical comedy on Broadway, and the "talkie" revolution that made possible the Hollywood musical. The authors also provide biographical sketches of songwriters, performers, and impresarios such as Florenz Ziegfeld. In addition, they analyze the lyrical and musical artistry of each song and relate anecdotes, sometimes amusing, sometimes poignant, about how the songs were created. The American Songbook is a book that can be read for enjoyment on its own or be propped on the piano to be played and sung.
