Timeless music

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, November 28th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: The Great American Songbook.

Yesterday we reintroduced you to Bob Case. He’s a musical history enthusiast who contributed to this program in its early days. And he’s back with an occasional series on popular music from the early 20th century.

REICHARD: Today, he acquaints us with some big-name musicians he’ll profile going forward.

[IRVING BERLIN: ALEXANDER’S RAGTIME BAND]

ROBERT CASE: The American Songbook is the collection of popular music from 1910 to 1960…it begins with Irving Berlin’s 1911 international hit “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”…and ends with Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” in 1955.

[BILL HALEY: ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK]

What makes the American Songbook so special is the lyrics. Many of the songs are written by talented and gifted poets. Their words empower the listener to reflect on what it means to be human—speaking of common experiences and emotions like love.

MUSIC: [IT HAD TO BE YOU]

And the music is sophisticated and surprising—written by artists who studied with and listened to the best composers who preceded them.

MUSIC: [NIGHT AND DAY]

This combination of lyrics and music is artistically significant and satisfying because it is fascinating, provocative, and always relevant.

MUSIC: [NIGHT AND DAY]

The popularity of the American Songbook is evident in that hardly any American reaches adulthood without at least one experience with it either while attending a musical or sitting in a movie theater. Or performing in a community or school production. Or humming or dancing or tapping their feet to a classic popular song.

MUSIC: [WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK]

One can’t enter a medical lobby, an office building, or a Christmas shop without hearing the songs of the Great American Songbook.

MUSIC: [WHAT A WORLD]

Several months ago, I was scanning through television listings and stumbled upon a whole channel dedicated to just one artist, Frank Sinatra, who died in 1998, singing songs by composers who died largely before 1950…and here I was in 2023, thoroughly enjoying what I was hearing.

MUSIC: [BLUE SKIES]

The American Songbook is so powerful a cultural artifact that all one needs to consider is that an entire worldwide human endeavor and cultural aspiration can be defined as coming from one street: Broadway…

MUSIC: [PAPER MOON]

…and from one hamlet: Hollywood.

MUSIC: [SINGING IN THE RAIN]

And all one has to do is mention the name, “Bing,” and people all over the world know who you’re referring to.

MUSIC: [I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS]

It is widely accepted by those who study popular culture that the American Songbook has had the largest impact on the individual American of any artistic expression. Furthermore, America exported this popular art form all over the world.

We Americans composed and they played, they sang, they danced, they Karaoked to what we created. This was not European music but American music – relentlessly romantic, sunny, optimistic, melodic, rhythmic, clever, personal, hopeful, and universal.

MUSIC: [I’VE GOT RHYTHM]

As far back as 1703 Andrew Fletcher, Scottish parliamentarian wrote this:

“I knew a very wise man. . . [who] believed if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.”

Fletcher goes to say:

“And we find that most of the ancient legislators thought they could not well reform the manners of any city without the help of a lyric.”

So, if you are interested in cultural apologetics, you should have a nodding acquaintance with the Great American Songbook.

MEL TORME: I’LL BE SEEING YOU

To remind us to gather again, let’s close out with Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal’s 1938 evergreen: “I’ll be seeing you.” The vocalist is Mel Torme with George Shearing on the piano.

I’m Robert Case.

MEL TORME: I’LL BE SEEING YOU

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