While coaching my 10-year-old student the other day on songwriting, I
was trying to describe the Great American Songbook in a nutshell—a difficult
task considering she has had little awareness of songs from this era. I later realized how fortunate our generation
is to have been exposed to this great music of the 1920s through 1950s from
Broadway, motion pictures and musicals.
I'm very grateful that my parents introduced me to a lot of old movies
and recordings from this era.
These songs are so well-crafted that their popularity has endured over
time, and they are still sung today by seasoned artists, such as Steve Tyrell
and Tony Bennett. I've heard each of
them in concert. Tyrell put it well when
he explained that these songs can be sung over and over, and we still love them
in spite of various renditions by different artists. Yet, regarding contemporary songs, we often
only want to hear the original artists.
Perhaps, this is because many modern-day songs emphasize vocals, rhythm,
instrumental arrangement and chord progressions more than refinement of the
melody and lyrics.
It's interesting to review the stories behind songs, for example,
"Over the Rainbow" (music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg)
was originally deleted from "The Wizard of Oz" because some thought
it slowed down the film, but the final decision was to include it. Ultimately, it became the number one song of
the 20th Century—as determined by the Recording Industry Association of America
and the National Endowment for the Arts—and was chosen as the greatest movie
song of all time by American Film Institute.
Another one of my favorites is "It Had to Be You" (written by
Isham Jones with lyrics by Gus Kahn).
Please list any of your personal favorites from the Great American
Songbook, let me know your thoughts on this topic, and remember to pass along
knowledge of these great songs to the next generation.
Video:
Source:
Wikipedia.org
