Sidney's Place: LYRICAL AMERICA

The popular music that flowed in a delightful torrent from the USA roughly from 1900 to 1960 profoundly influenced the world. Their tunes and lyrics are deeply embedded in our collective consciousness. There was a concentration of inspiration in the music publishing businesses and musical theatres in New York and I wish to celebrate these composers and songwriters and their superb talents.

Impossible to cover this vast field in detail, I will just touch on the most famous names and recall some of their finest songs. One of the earliest was George M Cohan (1878-1942) the ultra-patriotic Irish-American, who gave us Give my Regards to Broadway, It’s a Grand Old Flag and the Great War classic Over There. He was immortalised by dynamically brash James Cagney in the wonderful biopic Yankee Doodle Dandy of 1942.

Cagney as George M Cohan

More typical was Jerome Kern (1885-1945) New York-born of German-Jewish parents. His mother was musical and Kern wrote many songs including Smoke gets into your Eyes and The Way you look Tonight together with a clutch of musicals. The one that has survived best is Showboat with Ol’ Man River and Only Make Believe leading the field of favourites.

Poster for the 1951 movie version

The role model for many aspiring song-writers was Irving Berlin (1888-1989), born in Russia to Jewish parents who lived to a venerable 101. Reared in the hectic Tin Pan Alley ambiance, his output was prodigious, with his early (1912) hit Alexander’s Ragtime Band followed by ageless Cheek to Cheek, Let’s face the Music and Dance, White Christmas, and one of my favourites Isn’t it a lovely Day to be caught in the Rain? among 1,500 others. His melodic gifts were unrivalled, yet his instrumental skills were shaky in that he preferred only to use the black piano keys and had two “transposer” pianos to allow him to change key and still keep to the blacks!

Irving Berlin enchants

A more accomplished musician was George Gershwin (1898-1937) who collaborated with his brother Ira and Buddy DeSilva as lyricists. He wrote a wide range of popular classics like Swanee, Oh. Lady be Good and Our Love is here to stay. He aspired to more serious music and his opera Porgy and Bess is now much admired as are his Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. His early death aged 38 to a brain tumour was a grievous loss. His Summertime typifies his immortal legacy.

Cole Porter (1891-1964), the son of well-to-do Indiana parents and Yale-educated, revelled in New York’s theatrical world and café society. His lovely music and sophisticated lyrics delighted 1930s America epitomised by Anything Goes, Let’s do It and I get a Kick out of You. Cole’s life was shattered when his horse fell on him in 1937, damaging both legs – one was later amputated – and also his whole nervous system. Nevertheless it can e'er be said of Cole; “You’re sensational, sensational, that’s all”

Not all songwriters had long careers or uninterrupted success. The team of DeSylva, Brown and Henderson flourished briefly 1925-31 but gave us The Birth of the Blues and the Depression anthem The Best things in life are Free. Betty Comden and Adolf Green were a team writing screenplays and providing libretti, whose success with The Band Wagon was followed by the smash-hit Singin’ in the Rain, the iconic musical whose actual music was derived from stock 1920s oldies. Leonard Bernstein (1918-90) composed On the Town in 1944, but his score was emasculated for the 1949 movie with only evocative New York, New York is a wonderful Town surviving. He had better luck with West Side Story, with lyricist Stephen Sondheim, his lovely songs Maria, Somewhere a place for us and Tonight being cherished globally.

Perhaps the most commercially successful composer was Richard Rodgers (1902-79) whose lyricist was first Lorenz Hart and then Oscar Hammerstein II. Rodgers was born into a prosperous German-Jewish family in Queens, NYC and, like Hart and Hammerstein, attended Columbia University. With Hart he wrote great songs like There’s a small hotel, The Lady is a Tramp and My Funny Valentine.

They produced fine musicals such as On your Toes and Pal Joey. But Rodgers was to dominate the world of musical-comedy with Hammerstein with a string of hits in the 1940s and 1950s ranging from Oklahoma! to Carousel and South Pacific, which had us all singing June is busting out all over, What’s the use of wond’ring? and This nearly was Mine.

Rodgers and Hart

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Of course we all have our favourites but these astonishing American songs have been sung by succeeding generations, by Astaire, by Sinatra, by Ella, by Elvis and by a host of others. Fashions in music change and I simply add my profound gratitude for the genius of these bringers of joy.

George M Cohan www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKeYS1P9j1c

Jerome Kern www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvEQi6JGJ9c

Irving Berlin www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z6z64at9O4

George Gershwin www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixdJLXDT_QM

Richard Rodgers www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjV1OXQIAc

SMD

20.07.15