Critical evaluations of over a dozen American lyricists (ca.
1900-1950) - in a sophisticated, literate, uneven book that tries
(with sporadic half-success) to be a companion volume to Alec
Wilder's sublime American Popular Song (which focused on music
rather than lyrics). Furia (English/Univ. of Minnesota) reveals his
academic slant in a close-textual. analysis approach that takes
special delight in pointing out, line by line, the lyricist's
technical devices. Often this is illuminating and pays deserved
tribute to a subtle craft. Sometimes, however, the remit is merely
pretentious or pedantic: Furia finds "If I Had a Talking Picture of
You" to be about "the joys of voyeurism and onanism"; he declares
the "extended obstetrical metaphor" in "The Birth of the Blues"
implicitly "equates trumpet and fallopian tubes"; and his hunt for
"buried rhymes" leads him to find some that aren't really rhymes at
all. Also, the bias here is dogmatically in favor of witty, clever,
"modernist" lyrics: Furia tends to be overly dismissive of lyrical,
"sentimental," or "traditional" songs, underrating such gems as
"All the Things You Are" (Oscar Hammerstein), "I'm Old-Fashioned"
(Johnny Mercer), and "In Love in Vain" (Leo Robin). Still, Furia
offers valuable, detailed appreciations of Irving Berlin's rhythmic
genius, of Lorenz Hart's "wryly sensuous imagery," of Mercer's
earthy elegance, and of Dorothy Field's slangy insouciance. Best of
all is the chapter on Ira Gershwin - who had the "knack of placing
an utterly simple catch-phrase at an emotional climax, giving
vernacular luster to both phrase and setting." And though some of
the critiques seem overstated (Cole Porter's "stylistic
schizophrenia") or off-the-mark (Hammerstein, Yip Harburg), this is
a welcome addition to the sparse lyrics, as-literature shelf - if
not the definitive study to put alongside the Wilder book. (Kirkus
Reviews)
From the turn of the century to the 1960s, the songwriters of Tin Pan Alley dominated American music. Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart--even today these giants remain household names, their musicals regularly revived, their methods and styles analyzed and imitated, and their songs the bedrock of jazz and cabaret. In
The Poets of Tin Pan Alley Philip Furia offers a unique new perspective on these great songwriters, showing how their poetic lyrics were as important as their brilliant music in shaping a golden age of American popular song.
Furia writes with great perception and understanding as he explores the deft rhymes, inventive imagery, and witty solutions these songwriters used to breathe new life into rigidly established genres. He devotes full chapters to all the greats, including Irving Berlin, Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstain II, Howard Dietz, E.Y. Harburg, Dorothy Fields, Leo Robin, and Johnny Mercer. Furia also offers a comprehensive survey of other lyricists who wrote for the sheet-music industry, Broadway, Hollywood, and Harlem nightclub revues. This was the era that produced The New Yorker, Don Marquis, Dorothy Parker, and E.B. White--and Furia places the lyrics firmly in this fascinating historical context. In these pages, the lyrics emerge as an imporant element of American modernism, as the lyricists, like the great modernist poets, took the American vernacular and made it sing.
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