Title: American Popular Song Composers: Oral Histories, 1920s-1950s
Abstract: American Popular Song Composers: Oral Histories, 1920s-1950s. By Michael Whorf. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Company, 2012. 245pp (paperback). Photographs. Index. Appendix. Bibliography. ISBN 978-0-786-46537-8. $55 American Popular Song Lyricists: Oral Histories, 1920s-1960s. By Michael Whorf. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Company, 2012. 227pp (paperback). Photographs. Index. Appendix. Bibliography. ISBN 978-0-786-46538-5. $55 These two trade paperbacks devoted to composers and lyricists of American popular song of the twentieth century are derived from interviews with many great--and a few not-so-great--songwriters. They were conducted in the New York and Los Angeles offices of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1976. The tapes of many of the subjects were edited for broadcast on the Kaleidoscope program on WJR Radio in Detroit. Michael Whorf, the interviewer, author, and transcriber of the cassettes, was the host and producer of the long-running Kaleidoscope program that covered a very wide array of subjects, and was the recipient of a Peabody Award in 1968. Whorf talked with 39 lyricists including Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Johnny Burke, Sammy Cahn, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Yip Harburg, Carolyn Leigh, Johnny Mercer, Mitchell Parish, and Leo Robin; his 38 composer interviewees included Harold Arlen, Eubie Blake, Rube Bloom, Cy Coleman, John (formerly Johnny) Green, Burton Lane, Jule Styne, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Harry Warren. Some of the interviews involved the descendants of songwriters. Grace LeBoy Kahn was a most able substitute for her husband, Gus Kahn, whose lyrics she often set to music and who would play the composers' lead sheets for new assignments that Gus would bring home. She also tells a chilling story of the break-up of Gus and Isham Jones after they had collaborated on five great hits including Had to be and I'll You in My Dreams. Margaret Whiting was an excellent stand-in for her father, composer Richard A. Whiting while other spouses and children had varying degrees of success in their sessions. A few years ago, Whorf came across the tapes in the basement of his home and transcribed, edited, and excerpted them for these books. The interviews had been arranged by Gerald Marks, a Michigan native and member of ASCAP, and the composer of Is It True What They Say about Dixie and All of Me, among others. One might surmise that the sessions with mainly Tin Pan Alley veterans would consist of them talking about their triumphs, telling old war and complaining about how the incursion of rock and roll was dominating the charts and diminishing their record sales, airplay, and royalty checks from the Golden Age of popular music. While there is some of that to be found here (Elvis and the Beatles drove lyricist Milton Drake, whose few hits included Mairzy Doats, into early retirement), but there are some excellent sessions that concern the writers' muses, work habits, stories behind the creation of songs--and the travail of the subjects. There also are some fascinating tales: imagine Nora Bayes, a persevering young Noel Coward and Nora's accompanist, music director, and personal composer, and Louis Alter, all in Nora's dressing room in London, and how she encouraged the promising and talented young Brit. There are many fine, insightful sessions with the Harold Arlen, Cy Coleman, the highly articulate John Green, and others. Composer and lyricist Jerry Herman reveals that of his many hit numbers from Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and his other successful musicals, his own favorite was I Don't Want to Know from his short-lived Broadway musical, Dear World (and he explains his reasons for his choice). On the first Jerry Herman page, the author erroneously states that Richard Rodgers provided the music and lyrics for Dear World. Composer Sherman Edwards glosses over his collaboration on hits that became standards (such as Broken-Hearted Melody and See You in September) and his music for Elvis Presley film songs. …
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-09-22
Language: en
Type: article
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