Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000 addresses the question: What happened to American popular song after 1950? There are numerous books available on the so-called Golden Age of popular song, but none that follow the development of popular song styles in the second half of the 20th century. While 1950 is seen as the end of an era, the tap of popular song creation hardly ran dry after that date. Many of the classic songwriters continued to work through the following decades: Porter was active until 1958; Rodgers until the later 1970s; Arlen until 1976. Some of the greatest lyricists of the classic era continued to do outstanding and successful work: Johnny Mercer and Dorothy Fields, for example, continued to produce lyrics through the early '70s. These works could be explained as simply the Golden Age's last stand, a refusal of major figures to give in to a new reality. But then, how can we explain the outstanding careers of Frank Loesser, Cy Coleman, Jerry Herman, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Fred Kander and John Ebb, Jule Styne, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, and several other major figures? Where did Stephen Sondheim come from? For anyone interested in the development of American popular song -- and its survival -- this book will make fascinating reading. |
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Contents
1 Classic Pop at Midcentury | 1 |
2 The Music Went Round and Round | 45 |
3 Late Flowering from Old Stock | 67 |
4 Indian Summer of the Classic Popular Song | 105 |
5 Restocking the Songbook | 147 |
6 The Land Where the Good Songs Go | 205 |
7 Other Voices in Popular Song | 243 |
8 Sondheim and After | 281 |
9 Classic American Popular Song at the End of the Twentieth Century | 329 |
Permissions | 341 |
359 | |
367 | |
381 | |
Other editions - View all
Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000 David Jenness,Donald Velsey Limited preview - 2014 |
Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000 David Jenness,Donald Velsey No preview available - 2015 |
Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-century, 1950-2000 David Jenness,Don Velsey No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
A-section Administered By WB Alec Wilder American popular song Arlen ASCAP B-section ballad bars bass-line beat beautiful Blossom Dearie blues bridge Broadway Burton Lane Carolyn Leigh Chappell Charles Strouse chorus chromatic classic pop classic pop songs classic popular song Coleman composer Copyright Renewed Dorothy Fields example figure final find first flat genre Gershwin half-step harmonic Harnick International Copyright Secured intervals Ira Gershwin jazz Jerry Bock key-tone listener Loesser lyric lyricist major melodic line melody Mercer Miami minor moves Music Publishing nice notes octave opening pattern Performance Permission PUBLICATIONS U.S. INC reflecting rhyme rhythm rhythmic Rights Reserved rock Rodgers scale Sheldon Harnick singer singing Sondheim songwriters sound Stephen Sondheim Strouse style Styne swing syncopation There’s title phrase tonal tone triad tune verbal Vernon Duke verse vocal line voice line waltz WARNER BROS WB Music Corp Wilder Words and Music writing written wrote Yeston