From the turn of the century to the 1960s, the songwriters of Tin Pan Alley were synonymous with American popular music. Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart--even today these giants remain household names, their musicals regularly revived, their methods and styles analyzed and imitated, and their songs the bedrock of jazz and cabaret. In this new edition of The Poets of Tin Pan Alley, authors Philip Furia and Laurie Patterson offer a unique perspective on these great songwriters, showing how their poetic lyrics were as important as their brilliant music in shaping a golden age of American popular song.
Furia and Patterson continue the tradition of great perception and understanding established in the first edition as they explore the deft rhymes, inventive imagery, and witty solutions these songwriters used to breathe new life into rigidly established genres. They devote full chapters to such greats as Irving Berlin, Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstain II, Howard Dietz, E.Y. Harburg, Dorothy Fields, Leo Robin, and Johnny Mercer. They also offer a comprehensive survey of other lyricists who wrote for the sheet-music industry, Broadway, Hollywood, and Harlem nightclub revues. This was the era that produced The New Yorker, Don Marquis, Dorothy Parker, and E.B. White--and the book places Tin Pan Alley lyrics firmly in this fascinating historical context. In these pages, the lyrics emerge as an important element of American modernism, as the lyricists, like the great modernist poets, took the American vernacular and made it sing.
Industry Reviews
"[A] fascinating history of the popular lyricists....A triumph worth trumpeting."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Sophisticated, literate....A welcome addition to the sparse lyrics-as-literature shelf."--Kirkus Reviews
"Well-written and interesting....A good history of American popular culture."--Choice
"Furia not only pays tribute to the great lyricists but does it with a joy and flair that ingratiates itself to the reader page upon page....Overall, pleasure reading and then some."--West Coast Review of Books
"The author's love and enthusiasm for his subject, and also the fact that you can't help humming while reading, make this the rare book of literary criticism that is downright enjoyable."--Booklist
"Apparently all the younger lyricists of the present day freely acknowledge that they are not as gifted as Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, and other early masters of the art form. Along comes Mr. Furia's admirable study to provide more than ample documentation. It goes without saying that any professional or would-be lyricist ought to eagerly devour every page, but even those who pay more disinterested attention to the popular arts will
be fascinated by this insightful analysis."--Steve Allen
"A lovingly conceived, scholarly, and entertaining tribute to the great popular wordsmiths of this century. It is well researched and contains much fascinating information. I recommend it."--Michael Feinstein
"The first scholarly study of the lyrics of Tin Pan Alley, placing these texts in the sweep of American literature, analyzing not only their overall poetic style but individual variations as well....Invaluable."--Charles Hamm, Dartmouth College
