Tin Pan Alley: Your faves?

Who is your favourite American songwriter of the Golden Era? Gershwin? Berlin? Tell me who and why.

I love Harold Arlen. The perfect blend of melody and melancholy.

If you need to brush up on your Tin Pan Alley songwriters check out Living Era's "Song Is..." series:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/103-9749976-4633452

Or Red Hot Jazz.com:

http://www.redhotjazz.com/


And of course there is a little gem called radio dismuke:

http://dismuke.org/how/

I hope this qualifies..
Robert Johnson. For me, it does not get much better than this!

When you got a good friend
that will stay right by your side
When you got a good friend
that will stay right by your side
Give her all of your spare time
love and treat her right
I mistreated my baby
and I can't see no reason why
I mistreated my baby
and I can't see no reason why
Everytime I think about it
I just wring my hands and cry

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From a Robert Johnson page.

Eleven 78 rpm records were issued during Johnson's lifetime and one posthumously. They were just "race" records then--another casual attempt at trying to capitalize on the blues. Needless to say, they were enough to establish his identity wherever he went and afford him a degree of fame and fortune for the short time he lived after their release.

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Not to be nit picky...

...in a thread with so little response, but Robert Johnson - as great as he is, and I love him almost as much as Missippi John Hurt - does not qualify.

Tin Pan Alley refers to the music publishing business in America up to the middle of last century. Up until the 1920s Tin Pan Alley was a real place, a strip of 28th Street in New York between 5th and Broadway. This is where most music publishers (popular music was diseminated in the days before radio through sheet music sales) were located. The Gershwins had their start here and many of the great standards of the American popular repertory prior to the second World War were composed by someone in some way involved in the Tin Pan Alley tradition. So, it refers to songwriters more than performers or specific performances. Any tunes from Broadway or Hollywood musicals up to the fifties probably contain some of these songs.

Anyway, as far as Robert Johnson goes, he is one of the greatest (and some, Eric Clapton ferinstance, would argue THE greatest) Blues Men there ever was. Did you like the Robert Johnson-like character in O Brother Where Art Thou?

:cheers1:

I listen to quite a few original 78's that are on the Red Hot Jazz archive, I like the popular ''flappers" type 20's hits, through 30's, and the later big band era.
I usually play the more rare discs on a modern turntable, or a schoolhouse phono, as well as from a few old wind-up machines that I have. (Edison, Victor, & Columbia)

I have a small radio transmitter that I can send the audio to a 1940 Black Dial Zenith console from the more modern equipment. (It's nice to turn the lights down and see that lit dial glowing on the Zenith)

My top three, in order, are Gershwin (by a wide margin), Berlin, Carmichael.

jake_fink said:

...in a thread with so little response, but Robert Johnson - as great as he is, and I love him almost as much as Missippi John Hurt - does not qualify.

Tin Pan Alley refers to the music publishing business in America up to the middle of last century. Up until the 1920s Tin Pan Alley was a real place, a strip of 28th Street in New York between 5th and Broadway. This is where most music publishers (popular music was diseminated in the days before radio through sheet music sales) were located. The Gershwins had their start here and many of the great standards of the American popular repertory prior to the second World War were composed by someone in some way involved in the Tin Pan Alley tradition. So, it refers to songwriters more than performers or specific performances. Any tunes from Broadway or Hollywood musicals up to the fifties probably contain some of these songs.

Anyway, as far as Robert Johnson goes, he is one of the greatest (and some, Eric Clapton ferinstance, would argue THE greatest) Blues Men there ever was. Did you like the Robert Johnson-like character in O Brother Where Art Thou?

:cheers1:

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Thanks for the clarification jake_fink. I thought he might not fit in...
During 'O Brother', I gave my wife a nudge and said, "That's Robert Johnson!"

jake_fink said:

Who is your favourite American songwriter of the Golden Era? Gershwin? Berlin? Tell me who and why.

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Harry Warren -- a name familiar to music aficionados, though many would be hard pressed to know exactly what he was famous for. Mention some titles of the countless songs he composed during his amazing career, however, and recognition and remembrance are awakened.

"There Will Never Be Another You", “Lulu's Back in Town", "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams", "Lullaby of Broadway", “I Only Have Eyes for You,” “You'll Never Know,” “At Last,” “We’re in the Money,” “Jeepers, Creepers,” “The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,” "Serenade in Blue", and “That’s Amore,” are just a handful of Warren’s enduring classics.

A brilliant creator of songs for film and a three-time Academy Award recipient, Warren (1893 – 1981) collaborated with many of America's finest lyricists, including Johnny Mercer, Harold Adamson, Dorothy Fields, Ralph Blane, Leo Robin, Mack Gordon and Al Dubin.

And anybody who was somebody in film musicals sang and danced to Warren songs on the silver screen -- Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Al Jolson, Judy Garland, Dick Powell, Carmen Miranda, Dean Martin, Lena Horne, James Cagney, Gene Kelly and Betty Grable, among many, many others.

42nd Street, the musical based on his songs for the art-deco film extravaganzas of Busby Berkeley, had been a long-running Broadway hit, not once, but twice.

Warren’s music has survived and adapted well to the rock & roll era, providing hits for artists as diverse as the Flamingos, Art Garfunkel, Bobby Darin, Chris Montez, Nancy Wilson, Cyndi Lauper and Dinah Washington. Michael Buble does a swingin' and soulful version of Warren's "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby" on his most recent CD.

jake_fink said:

... Anyway, as far as Robert Johnson goes, he is one of the greatest (and some, Eric Clapton ferinstance, would argue THE greatest) Blues Men there ever was. Did you like the Robert Johnson-like character in O Brother Where Art Thou?

:cheers1:

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Actually the Oh Brother Where Art Thou? character was based on the legendary Tommy Johnson.

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/german/course_webpages/devil/grmn256/tjstory.html

There is a great interview with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page about their inspiration from Tommy Johnson. I'm sure "Slowhand" would concur completely though!

-dixon cannon

Right now, I'd have to go with Irving Berlin:

Always
Blue Skies
Change Partners
Cheek to Cheek
Easter Parade
Happy Holiday
How Deep Is the Ocean?
I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
I've Got the Sun in the Morning and the Moon and Night
Isn't This a Lovely Day to Be Caught in the Rain
Let Yourself Go
Let's Face the Music and Dance
Puttin' on the Ritz
Russian Lullaby
Steppin' Out with My Baby
There's No Business Like Show Business
Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails
We Saw the Sea
White Christmas
You Keep Coming Back Like a Song
You're Easy to Dance With

They Say It's Wonderful is my favorite.


The only thing about Berlin is that when he was good, he was great, but when he was bad, he was awful!

It's a toughie between Gershwin and Cole Porter....I mean, Cole is just so CULTURED and CLEVER. It's magic and humor and reminiscence all in one. :eusa_clap

I'd probably say Harry Warren, because I love the music from Busby Berkeley musicals. He just squeeks by as my favorite though, because I'm a big fan of Tin Pan Alley songwriters. I'm tempted to give the title to Harold Arlen, if only because It's Only a Paper Moon (the Cliff Edwards version) is one of my all time favorite songs. And then Hoagy Carmichael is so wonderful in the movie To Have and Have Not - Hong Kong Blues is so catchy, and I like his voice.