America's Songs

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A01=Michael Lasser
A01=Philip Furia
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Alexander’s Ragtime Band
alley
American songwriters
Author_Michael Lasser
Author_Philip Furia
berlin
Buddy DeSylva
Category=AVL
Cole Porter
Coon Songs
cultural impact of songs
dorothy
Dorothy Fields
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_music
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
evolution of American popular songs
fields
Florenz Ziegfeld
Frank Loesser
george
George Gershwin
Harry Akst
Ira Gershwin
irving
Irving Berlin
Jimmy Van Heusen
jule
Jule Styne
Kit Kat Klub
Leo Robin
Melancholy Baby
Merman
Music Box Revue
musical collaboration
musicology research
Opening Number
Pajama Game
pan
popular music history
Star Dust
styne
tin
Tin Pan Alley
twentieth century music
Van Heusen
Yip Harburg
Young Man

Product details

  • ISBN 9780415972468
  • Weight: 820g
  • Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 12 May 2006
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
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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'sSongs will make for fascinating reading.

Philip Furia is one of the best-known writers on popular music, having authored critical biographies of Johnny Mercer (2003), Irving Berlin (1998), and Ira Gershwin (1995), and the award-winning book Poets of Tin Pan Alley (1992). He teaches at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Michael Lasser is host of National Public Radio's "Fascinatin' Rhythm," a weekly program that focuses on the great American popular songs. It has been on the air since 1980, and was awarded a Peabody Award in 1995.

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