| Contents |
Introduction -- Sigmund Romberg and the Europeans -- Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein and "Show Boat" -- George and Ira Gershwin -- Early Rodgers & Hart -- Anatomy of the popular song: The verse ; The chorus ; The lyric -- Vincent Youmans -- DeSylva, Brown and Henderson -- Harold Arlen (and Ted Koehler) -- Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz -- Andy Razaf and the African connection -- Sheet music -- Cole Porter -- "Porgy and Bess" -- Writing for Fred Astaire: Irving Berlin ; Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern ; George and Ira Gershwin -- Duke Ellington (and Billy Strayhorn) -- Hoagy Carmichael (and Mitchell Parish) -- Late Rodgers & Hart -- Harry Warren (and Al Dubin and Mack Gordon) -- E.Y. Harburg and "The Wizard of Oz" -- The songs of World War II -- Johnny Mercer -- Made in Hollywood: "As time goes by" and "Laura" -- Kurt Weill (and Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke) -- Rodgers & Hammerstein -- Singers of the song -- Irving Berlin: the theater songs -- Jule Styne (and Sammy Cahn) -- Frank Loesser -- Betty Comden and Adolph Green -- Stephen Sondheim (and Leonard Bernstein) -- Jimmy Van Heusen (and Johnny Burke and Sammy Cahn) -- Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe -- John Kander and Fred Ebb (and Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick) -- Songs by category. |
| Abstract |
This celebratory survey of popular American music from 1927 to the 1960s--Broadway songs, Hollywood songs, individual hits by famous composers, and great one-shots from out of nowhere--is organized in loose chronological order around the lives of the songwriters. The book is filled with anecdotes, morsels of social history, and personal commentary. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-262) and indexes. |
| LCCN | 00049026 |
| ISBN | 1567921477 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
