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The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant 20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes.

Definition

According to the Great American Songbook Foundation:

The "Great American Songbook" is the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century that have stood the test of time in their life and legacy. Often referred to as "American Standards", the songs published during the Golden Age of this genre include those popular and enduring tunes from the 1920s to the 1950s that were created for Broadway theatre, musical theatre, and Hollywood musical film.

Culture writer Martin Chilton defines the term "Great American Songbook" as follows: "Tunes of Broadway musical theatre, Hollywood movie musicals and Tin Pan Alley (the hub of songwriting that was the music publishers' row on New York's West 28th Street)". Chilton adds that these songs "became the core repertoire of jazz musicians" during the period that "stretched roughly from 1920 to 1960".

Although several collections of music have been published under the "Great American Songbook" title, the term does not refer to any actual book or specific list of songs. The Great American Songbook includes standards by Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein II, among others.

In Alec Wilder's 1972 study, American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900–1950, the songwriter and critic lists and ranks the artists he believes belong to the Great American Songbook canon. A composer, Wilder emphasized analysis of composers and their creative efforts in this work.

Radio personality Jonathan Schwartz and singer Tony Bennett, both Songbook devotees, have both described this genre as "America's classical music".

List of songs

Revivals

In 1970, rock musician Ringo Starr surprised the public by releasing an album of Songbook songs from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Sentimental Journey. Reviews were mostly poor or even disdainful, but the album reached number 22 on the US Billboard 200 and number 7 in the UK Albums Chart, with sales of 500,000.

It's a lot of songs that were my initiation to music. It's all the tracks that, when my mother and my father came home from the pub out their heads, they'd sing all these songs.

— Ringo Starr

Other pop singers who established themselves in the 1960s or later followed with albums reviving songs from the Great American Songbook, beginning with Harry Nilsson's A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night in 1973 and continuing into the 21st century. Linda Ronstadt (1983 though 1986), Rod Stewart (2002 through 2005), Bob Dylan (2015 through 2017) and Lady Gaga (2014 and 2021) made several such albums. Of Ronstadt's 1983 album, What's New, her first in a trilogy of standards albums recorded with arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle, Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote:

What's New isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that Beatlemania and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teen-agers undid in the mid-'60s. During the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the '40s and '50s codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of albums, many of them now long out-of-print.

See also

• Brill Building
• Great American Songbook Foundation
• Lounge music
• Show tunes
• Tin Pan Alley
• Traditional pop

Notes

1. Including Willie Nelson with Stardust (1978), Dr. John with In a Sentimental Mood (1989), Brian Wilson with Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (2010), Paul McCartney with Kisses on the Bottom (2012), Bob Dylan with Shadows in the Night (2015), Fallen Angels (2016), and Triplicate (2017), and James Taylor with American Standard (2020).

References

1. "A Great American Songbook Foundation". The Center For The Performing Arts.
2. Chilton, Martin (April 3, 2020). "Cover To Cover: The Story Of The Great American Songbook | uDiscover".
3. ^ Miller, Michael (2008). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History. Penguin. p. 175. ISBN 9781440636370.
4. "The Center for the Performing Arts". The Center For The Performing Arts.
5. ^ "After An Education In American Jazz, A Musician Tackles The Turkish Songbook". NPR.org.
6. ^ Feinstein, Michael (February 11, 2015). "'The B Side,' by Ben Yagoda". The New York Times. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
7. ^ Friedwald, Will. "Jazz Vocalists". New York. June 14, 1993. p. 6A.
8. Wilder, Alec (1990). American Popular Song: The Great Innovators 1900–1950. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-501445-6.
9. Deborah Grace Winer (September 1, 2003). "Girl Singers: From nightclubs and concert halls to recordings, today's best vocalists put a new spin on old favorites". Town & Country. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved September 9, 2012.(subscription required)
10. Clodfelter, Tim (September 5, 2010). "Tony Bennett says a key to his continued success is being true to the audience". Winston-Salem Journal.
11. ^ Polit, Katherine. "The Great American Songbook In The Classical Voice Studio". Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. May 2014. p. 73.
12. Murray, Steve. "Michael Feinstein: Crooners". CabaretScenes.org. May 23, 2017.
13. ^ Purdy, Stephen. "Musical Theatre Song: A Comprehensive Course in Selection, Preparation, and Presentation for the Modern Performer". Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016. pt. 115.
14. ^ "The Great American Songbook – The Composers". Retrieved July 20, 2015.
15. ^ Purdy, Stephen. Musical Theatre Song: A Comprehensive Course in Selection, Preparation, and Presentation for the Modern Performer. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016. pt. 32.
16. "The Great American Songbook – The Composers". HalLeonard.com. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
17. ^ Cole, Clay (2009). Sh-Boom!: The Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll, 1953–1968. Morgan James Publishing. ISBN 9781600377686.
18. ^ "Great Performances". "The Great American Songbook: Introduction". "PBS". March 11, 2003.
19. ^ "The Great American Songbook". The Johnny Mercer Foundation. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
20. Dicker, Shira. "Gotta Dance? Swing on Over". New York Times. December 22, 2011.
21. Venutolo, Anthony. ""Boardwalk Empire" recap: 'Make a promise to you, break another to myself'". "NJ.com". November 4, 2013.
22. "The Last Time I Saw Paris". americanhistory.si.edu.
23. "Louisville Lou". www.loc.gov.
24. "J. Fred Coots, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany". Greatamericansongbook.net. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
25. • James Hall (March 20, 2020). "Ringo Starr's Sentimental Journey: how an 'embarrassing' solo album helped doom the Beatles". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved July 22, 2020. To many Beatles fans, Sentimental Journey was awkward... a novelty record. ...John Lennon dismissed it as 'embarrassing'. ...the critics maul it.(subscription required)
    • Robert Christgau. "Consumer Guide Album – Ringo Starr: Sentimental Journey [Apple, 1970]". Robertchristgau.com. Retrieved July 22, 2020. For over-fifties and Ringomaniacs: the reports that he did this collection of standards for his Mums are obviously true. C MINUS.
    • Shaffner, Nicholas (1980). The Boys From Liverpool. New York: Methuan. p. 162. ISBN 9780416306613. Retrieved July 22, 2020. Casting himself as the sort of Frank Sinatra-style singer his mother had always adored, Ringo recorded Sentimental Journey, an album of songs from the twenties, thirties, and forties. This was the last thing Beatlemaniacs wished to hear...
    • Greil Marcus (May 14, 1970). "Ringo Starr". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 20, 2007. Retrieved July 22, 2020. Sentimental Journey may be horrendous, but at least it's classy. Or is it?
    • Georgiy Starostin. "Ringo Starr". The Tower of Babel. Retrieved July 22, 2020. A horrendous bunch of Hollywood tunes - the biggest imaginable blow to a Beatles' reputation. What an odd record to represent the very first true post-Beatles collection of material by any solo Beatle... the record is so grotesquely ridiculous that it isn't even pukey.
    • Jacob Shelton (March 27, 2020). "Ringo Starr Releases His First Ever Solo Album in 1970: How Did That Go?". Groovy History. Retrieved July 22, 2020. received scathing reviews. Starr's singing was mocked as was the maudlin tone of the album.
26. "Chart History: Ringo Starr". Billboard. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
27. "Ringo Starr". Official Charts. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
28. Nick Deriso (March 27, 2015). "Why Ringo Starr Began His Solo Career With 'Sentimental Journey'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Townsquare Media. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
29. James Hall (March 20, 2020). "Ringo Starr's Sentimental Journey: how an 'embarrassing' solo album helped doom the Beatles". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved July 22, 2020.(subscription required)
30. Ruhlmann, William. "A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night". AllMusic.
31. Stephen Holden; Dargis, Manohla (September 4, 1983). "Linda Ronstadt Celebrates The Golden Age of Pop". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2007.(subscription required)
32. Deusner, Stephen (August 15, 2008). "Willie Nelson Stardust: Legacy Edition". Pitchfork Media. Pitchfork Media Inc. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
33. "Dr. John: In a Sentimental Mood". Allmusic. allmusic.com. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
34. "Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin by Brian Wilson". Metacritic.com.
35. Hermes, Will (February 7, 2012). "Kisses on the Bottom | Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
36. Turner, Gustavo (January 24, 2015). "The secret Sinatra past of Bob Dylan's new album". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
37. Petridis, Alexis (January 29, 2015). "Shadows in the Night review – an unalloyed pleasure". The Guardian. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
38. Brown, Helen (May 13, 2016). "Bob Dylan, Fallen Angels, review -'inhabiting classics with weathered ease'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
39. "Bob Dylan's First Three-Disc Album — Triplicate — Set For March 31 Release". bobdylan.com. January 31, 2017. Archived from the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
40. Monger, Timothy. "James Taylor – American Standard". AllMusic.

Further reading

• Bloom, Ken (2005). The American Songbook: The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs. New York: Black Dog & Levental Publishers. ISBN 1-579-12448-8.
• Furia, Philip (1992). Poets of Tin Pan Alley. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-195-07473-4.
• Furia, Philip (2006). (with Michael Lasser) America's Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley. Routledge. ISBN 0415990521.
• Furia, Philip (2010). (with Laurie Patterson) The Songs of Hollywood. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195337082.
• Furia, Philip (2015). (with Laurie Patterson) The American Song Book: The Tin Pan Alley Era. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199391882.
• Morath, Max (2002). The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Popular Standards. Penguin-Perigee Trade. ISBN 978-0-399-52744-9.
• Yagoda, Ben (2015). The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song. New York: Riverhead Books. ISBN 978-1-594-48849-8.
• Zinsser, William (2001). Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs. Boston: David R. Godine. ISBN 1-567-92147-7.

External links

• Martini in the Morning radio program featuring the Great American Songbook
• PBS Special on the Great American Songbook
• Popular Songwriters and The Great American Songbook
• The American Songbook Preservation Society
• The Great American Songbook Foundation
• The Society for the Preservation of the Great American Songbook

• American songs
• Jazz standards
• 1920s in American music
• 1930s in American music
• 1940s in American music
• 1950s in American music
• 1960s in American music
• Nostalgia in the United States