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The B Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song
From an acclaimed cultural critic, a narrative and social history of the Great American Songwriting era.
Everybody knows and loves the American Songbook. But it’s a bit less widely understood that in about 1950, this stream of great songs more or less dried up. All of a sudden, what came over the radio wasn’t Gershwin, Porter, and Berlin, but “Come on-a My House” and “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” Elvis and rock and roll arrived a few years later, and at that point the game was truly up. What happened, and why? In The B Side , acclaimed cultural historian Ben Yagoda answers those questions in a fascinating piece of detective work. Drawing on previously untapped archival sources and on scores of interviews—the voices include Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb, Linda Ronstadt, and Herb Alpert—the book illuminates broad musical trends through a series of intertwined stories. Among them are the battle between ASCAP and Broadcast Music, Inc.; the revolution in jazz after World War II; the impact of radio and then television; and the bitter, decades-long feud between Mitch Miller and Frank Sinatra.
The B Side is about taste, and the particular economics and culture of songwriting, and the potential of popular art for greatness and beauty. It’s destined to become a classic of American musical history.
Everybody knows and loves the American Songbook. But it’s a bit less widely understood that in about 1950, this stream of great songs more or less dried up. All of a sudden, what came over the radio wasn’t Gershwin, Porter, and Berlin, but “Come on-a My House” and “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” Elvis and rock and roll arrived a few years later, and at that point the game was truly up. What happened, and why? In The B Side , acclaimed cultural historian Ben Yagoda answers those questions in a fascinating piece of detective work. Drawing on previously untapped archival sources and on scores of interviews—the voices include Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb, Linda Ronstadt, and Herb Alpert—the book illuminates broad musical trends through a series of intertwined stories. Among them are the battle between ASCAP and Broadcast Music, Inc.; the revolution in jazz after World War II; the impact of radio and then television; and the bitter, decades-long feud between Mitch Miller and Frank Sinatra.
The B Side is about taste, and the particular economics and culture of songwriting, and the potential of popular art for greatness and beauty. It’s destined to become a classic of American musical history.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 22, 2015
39 people are currently reading
617 people want to read
About the author
Ben Yagoda
22 books31 followersBen Yagoda is a retired professor of journalism and English. He's published a number of books and was a freelance journalist for publications such as The New Leader, The New York Times, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone. Yagoda currently lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
February 13, 2015
The Great American Songbook is around 300 songs written between 1925 and 1945, mainly by male Jewish American songwriters*. This book is about its rise and fall (“By 1946 the magical coincidence of quality and popularity was over”) and kind-of rise again.
I agree that these songs are great, but I had to learn that slowly. I had to find out that going backwards in musical time was as exciting as going forwards.
The usual narrative of American music is that the Gershwins & Porters & Rodgers were all killed off by rock & roll. The hound dog done ripped out the entrails of your funny valentine. But it wasn’t so. There was a weird period from 1945 to 1955 during which swing died and fewer standards were written and pure crap took over, notoriously exemplified by "How Much is that Doggie in the Window", "Come on-a My House" and "O Mein Papa". We know "Come on-a My House" was crap because its singer Rosemary (aunt of George) Clooney told us in her autobiography:
I thought the lyric ranged from incoherent to just plain silly. I thought the tune sounded more like a drunken chant than an historic art form and I hated the gimmicky arrangement. It was orchestrated for jazzed-up harpsichord, of all things, with a kind of calypso rhythm.
Producer Mitch Miller (the dark lord of this book, “too much power and not enough taste…as responsible as anyone for turning pop music into jingles”) played the demo and said that’s what she’d be recording at the next session. She said : I don’t think so. He said:
Know what I think? I think you will show up because otherwise you will be fired.
This crap song was a giant hit.
And Patti Page herself chipped in with a pretty reasonable observation :
There are more people that aren’t hip than those that are, so you’ve got to please those that aren’t.
Anyway, the sophisticated standard was on its knees by 1955 and then rock & roll turned up to deliver the final boot in the mush. Boy, those older 50s guys hated rock & roll. Here’s Vance (Hidden persuaders) Packard:
Our airways have been flooded in recent years with whining guitarists, musical riots put to a switchblade beat, obscene lyrics about hugging, squeezing and rocking all night long
This book staggers around the chronology of 20th century popular music like a drunk trying to find his way home. There’s too much showbiz nuts & bolts and not enough aesthetic consideration in here for me. So many names you never heard of, industry disputes which were really something in 1941, this about disc jockeys, that about song pluggers. I could live without any of this stuff but it comes with the territory, I guess. Right at the end Ben begins to enthuse about new great songwriters of the mid 60s (the usual suspects). And then he stops. I wanted more.
I kind of think this book is like notes for a larger greater book waiting to be written.
*Why Jews in particular? Ben Yagoda is a little mystified. “No simple explanation”, he says. It raises the interesting question as to whether it’s racist to say that a particular ethnic group is simply better than other groups at some things. Kenyan long distance runners, Jewish American songwriters, Russian chess players.
February 10, 2015
I have no qualms giving this 5 stars--it is a fabulous read! The title and subtitle are rather drab and not exactly indicative of the pleasures of the book, which is basically a history of American pop music from the 30s to the 60s, focusing on the songs and songwriters. Yagoda's thesis is that the flow of great songs of the 30s and 40s (what we know now as "standards" by writers like George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, Carolyn Leigh, etc.) was stopped by the frivolous, unsophisticated music of the 50s ("How Much is that Doggie in the Window" is the subject of a lot of venom here), and the villain of this piece winds up being Mitch Miller, a powerful music executive who was instrumental in influencing public taste in music. The rebirth Yagoda writes about involves both the appreciation of the standards that singers like Ella Fitzgerald helped establish, and the emergence of the new "Tin Pan Alley-ish" writers of the 60s like Burt Bacharach and Carole King. The book ends in the mid-60s with Brian Wilson and the Beatles about the change the course of pop music again. Yagoda presents information that is not necessarily new, but the lens with which he views and interprets it is new, and this is a fascinating and well-written read.
January 4, 2015
Got this from firstreads.
The names, of songs, songwriters, singers, musicians, come flying at you in this summary of the Tin Pan Alley days up into the 1960s. So it helps if you already know some of the tunes and names, if you already have some scaffolding to hang these details on. The book itself isn't very good at providing you with a solid introduction to the history and music. And even though the chapters are labeled by time period, there's quite a bit of wandering back and forth in time in a way that feels disorganized. So prepare yourself with a little wiki-level history, at least, before you attack this thing.
I did have that mental scaffolding to fit this book into, though, and so I enjoyed it. There are some interesting trends identified. The areas in which I learned new things were the prevalence of ballads in the late 1940s -- something I was aware of but hadn't made sense to me, the ASCAP/BMI rivalry, the feud between Sinatra and Mitch Miller (the villan in this story), and the court case/legislative bill addressing how music was chosen to be recorded and broadcast in the 1940s and into the 50s. All that was interesting and provided some good context for the songs themselves. It was a fun read.
I'm not altogether certain that Yagoda convinced me of his central thesis about bad music killing off Tin Pan Alley and all the good music that was written in (mostly) the 1930s. Part of that is that reality is complicated, and Yagoda set out to describe everything that was happening with music in this time period. There was good music being written and recorded, but there was a lot of bad stuff, too. And yes, we all think "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" was a silly song, but it's not clear that Elvis killed good music. And, as Yagoda writes in the last couple chapters, Tin Pan Alley-style music was not dead in the 1950s. Most of the time, it wasn't at the top of the charts, but good music was still being written. And I know Sinatra hated rock'n'roll, but I rather like it myself, so I have a hard time going along with the argument that it was shlock that unfairly crowded out the good stuff. I just don't think there's enough evidence in this book (or in reality) to convince me of that. I enjoyed reading it, but I ended up disagreeing with the author, I think, in his main point.
The names, of songs, songwriters, singers, musicians, come flying at you in this summary of the Tin Pan Alley days up into the 1960s. So it helps if you already know some of the tunes and names, if you already have some scaffolding to hang these details on. The book itself isn't very good at providing you with a solid introduction to the history and music. And even though the chapters are labeled by time period, there's quite a bit of wandering back and forth in time in a way that feels disorganized. So prepare yourself with a little wiki-level history, at least, before you attack this thing.
I did have that mental scaffolding to fit this book into, though, and so I enjoyed it. There are some interesting trends identified. The areas in which I learned new things were the prevalence of ballads in the late 1940s -- something I was aware of but hadn't made sense to me, the ASCAP/BMI rivalry, the feud between Sinatra and Mitch Miller (the villan in this story), and the court case/legislative bill addressing how music was chosen to be recorded and broadcast in the 1940s and into the 50s. All that was interesting and provided some good context for the songs themselves. It was a fun read.
I'm not altogether certain that Yagoda convinced me of his central thesis about bad music killing off Tin Pan Alley and all the good music that was written in (mostly) the 1930s. Part of that is that reality is complicated, and Yagoda set out to describe everything that was happening with music in this time period. There was good music being written and recorded, but there was a lot of bad stuff, too. And yes, we all think "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" was a silly song, but it's not clear that Elvis killed good music. And, as Yagoda writes in the last couple chapters, Tin Pan Alley-style music was not dead in the 1950s. Most of the time, it wasn't at the top of the charts, but good music was still being written. And I know Sinatra hated rock'n'roll, but I rather like it myself, so I have a hard time going along with the argument that it was shlock that unfairly crowded out the good stuff. I just don't think there's enough evidence in this book (or in reality) to convince me of that. I enjoyed reading it, but I ended up disagreeing with the author, I think, in his main point.
Read
August 8, 2016"Many have told the story of this shift before Ben Yagoda, but rarely from the perspective of the displaced old guard. A revolution looks very different when you are the kings and kingmakers who just got evicted from the palace. In his smart new book, Ben Yagoda, an established arts journalist, shares some stories about the rise of rock that you probably haven't heard before.
Most amusingly of all, the reader gets to see and enjoy the obliviousness of two titans of the industry, who feint and parry with practiced aplomb– never suspecting that the looming rock revolution will soon make the both irrelevant.
The B-Side would have been an exemplary history even if it were merely an insider's guide to the collapse of what many nowadays call the golden age of American song. But Yagoda does something much bolder: He shows that this moment of reckoning in the '50s was not as final or all-encompassing as we have come to believe."
–Ted Gioia on Ben Yagoda's The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song in the April/May 2015 issue of Bookforum
To read the rest of this review, go to Bookforum:
http://bookforum.com/inprint/022_01
Most amusingly of all, the reader gets to see and enjoy the obliviousness of two titans of the industry, who feint and parry with practiced aplomb– never suspecting that the looming rock revolution will soon make the both irrelevant.
The B-Side would have been an exemplary history even if it were merely an insider's guide to the collapse of what many nowadays call the golden age of American song. But Yagoda does something much bolder: He shows that this moment of reckoning in the '50s was not as final or all-encompassing as we have come to believe."
–Ted Gioia on Ben Yagoda's The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song in the April/May 2015 issue of Bookforum
To read the rest of this review, go to Bookforum:
http://bookforum.com/inprint/022_01
April 21, 2015
What a delightful read! Yagoda goes through the history of American popular music from World War I to the 1960s. I loved reading about all the trends, the songwriters, the history of record labels and publishing companies. AND especially how Frank Sinatra came to be enemies with Mitch Miller. (Really, how most people didn't like Mitch Miller.) I kept humming my own soundtrack to the book - definitely still have "Blues in the Night" stuck in my head. Certainly a book my grandparents will enjoy, but also written with a wink in the eye that anyone with some interest in the topic will be entertained. Fun read that made me laugh and frequently go, "ah ha!"
I won my copy from Goodreads.
I won my copy from Goodreads.
January 2, 2018
“The Great American Songbook,” the phrase, puts me to sleep, my eyes glaze over, and I cannot stifle the yawns. Until now. I also avert my glance when Frank Sinatra appears on a cover.
I regret delaying for three years the enjoyment of this interesting book, which deepened and broadened my appreciation for this cultural phenomenon.
While no one agrees on the exact canon, most people agree with about three hundred songs written and published from the mid-twenties to the mid-fifties, roughly ten songs a year average during that period. Broadway and musical revues originated many of the best songs beginning in the twenties. Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley also generated standards, divided into slow ballads and fast rhythm.
Ben Yagoda writes that, collectively, these songs constitute a cultural achievement. The period ended when early rock ’n’ roll, with many great songs, broke from the earlier standards because of the beat, the shouted vocals and the emotional energy in three chords.
CHARLES HARRIS, of Milwaukee, became the first songwriter to make a significant living in the trade of popular music. “After the Ball,” became the country’s first million-seller. Harris’s success in the eighteen-nineties showed that a person could make good money by writing pop tunes. This is at least the second recent book to tell the story of “After the Ball” by Charles Harris. Love for Sale: Pop Music in America
Harris became successful through sheet music, which middle-class Americans bought for their pianos in the parlor. Outside the home, new music spread and became known from the singers and musicians who performed in music halls and vaudeville. From there, bands became the main way to spread music, whether through records, radio or live dances.
Radio played a stronger role by the thirties. Variety coined the term “disc jockey,” which quickly shortened to “deejay” and “DJ.” Record labels found that these guys helped sales by playing the songs on the radio. Eddie Hubbard, for example, in Chicago on WGN, launched “Peg o’ My Heart” by The Harmonicats in forty-seven. (My parents bought our Stromberg-Carlson console radio/turntable from Eddie Hubbard at his shop in Skokie. So, we heard Eddie Hubbard through the radio that he sold us.)
Deejays as new forces in the music business became a “show business phenomenon,” wrote Variety. Disc jockeys supplemented the jukeboxes of the day, bringing recorded music into the homes of people who would never hear a jukebox. (During my hippie radio days, I worked as an underground FM deejay in St Louis. We knew that our airplay moved records because we went to the shops and talked with people there who told us so while the proprietors told us about new music that their record buyers like.)
AROUND NINETEEN SIXTY, the new rock music came from a different direction. It came from gospel, swing, country, folk, blues, rhythm and blues, not out of jazz as did the songs of an earlier generation.
The old tunesmiths wrote songs and emotions for other people to sing, says Yagoda. But in the late fifties, Buddy Holly helped launch a new generation of singer-songwriter, people who wrote for themselves.
The Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary and others of the folk revival paled in comparison to the singer-songwriters, such as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and John Sebastian, writes Yagoda. Paul Simon, early on, moved from folk songs to political statements to personal expressions.
Randy Newman served as a link between the fading world of Hollywood and a new reality. He spent a lot of time with his three uncles who worked as Hollywood conductors and composers. Randy’s mother, meanwhile, came from New Orleans. He spent his early childhood summers there. And that helps explain his musical stew. Randy Newman fronted the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra a few years ago for one of the best ever pops concerts. A great evening of him at the piano with many of his songs, stories and jokes.
“As the final page turns of one song book, another songbook begins,” Yagoda says in conclusion of this continuing story.
A comprehensive forty-five page appendix supports this well-written and interesting book. Record charts for Yagoda’s frequent mentions of song and record rankings, such as number one or top ten, came from books published by Billboard, edited and written by Joel Whitburn of Menomonee Falls, a suburb adjacent to Milwaukee.
Among the pleasures of reading library books is finding ephemera in the pages. This copy of the book includes a clipped-out review of the book from three years ago. http://archive.jsonline.com/entertain...
NPR: http://www.npr.org/2015/01/23/3790866...
I regret delaying for three years the enjoyment of this interesting book, which deepened and broadened my appreciation for this cultural phenomenon.
While no one agrees on the exact canon, most people agree with about three hundred songs written and published from the mid-twenties to the mid-fifties, roughly ten songs a year average during that period. Broadway and musical revues originated many of the best songs beginning in the twenties. Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley also generated standards, divided into slow ballads and fast rhythm.
Ben Yagoda writes that, collectively, these songs constitute a cultural achievement. The period ended when early rock ’n’ roll, with many great songs, broke from the earlier standards because of the beat, the shouted vocals and the emotional energy in three chords.
CHARLES HARRIS, of Milwaukee, became the first songwriter to make a significant living in the trade of popular music. “After the Ball,” became the country’s first million-seller. Harris’s success in the eighteen-nineties showed that a person could make good money by writing pop tunes. This is at least the second recent book to tell the story of “After the Ball” by Charles Harris. Love for Sale: Pop Music in America
Harris became successful through sheet music, which middle-class Americans bought for their pianos in the parlor. Outside the home, new music spread and became known from the singers and musicians who performed in music halls and vaudeville. From there, bands became the main way to spread music, whether through records, radio or live dances.
Radio played a stronger role by the thirties. Variety coined the term “disc jockey,” which quickly shortened to “deejay” and “DJ.” Record labels found that these guys helped sales by playing the songs on the radio. Eddie Hubbard, for example, in Chicago on WGN, launched “Peg o’ My Heart” by The Harmonicats in forty-seven. (My parents bought our Stromberg-Carlson console radio/turntable from Eddie Hubbard at his shop in Skokie. So, we heard Eddie Hubbard through the radio that he sold us.)
Deejays as new forces in the music business became a “show business phenomenon,” wrote Variety. Disc jockeys supplemented the jukeboxes of the day, bringing recorded music into the homes of people who would never hear a jukebox. (During my hippie radio days, I worked as an underground FM deejay in St Louis. We knew that our airplay moved records because we went to the shops and talked with people there who told us so while the proprietors told us about new music that their record buyers like.)
AROUND NINETEEN SIXTY, the new rock music came from a different direction. It came from gospel, swing, country, folk, blues, rhythm and blues, not out of jazz as did the songs of an earlier generation.
The old tunesmiths wrote songs and emotions for other people to sing, says Yagoda. But in the late fifties, Buddy Holly helped launch a new generation of singer-songwriter, people who wrote for themselves.
The Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary and others of the folk revival paled in comparison to the singer-songwriters, such as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and John Sebastian, writes Yagoda. Paul Simon, early on, moved from folk songs to political statements to personal expressions.
Randy Newman served as a link between the fading world of Hollywood and a new reality. He spent a lot of time with his three uncles who worked as Hollywood conductors and composers. Randy’s mother, meanwhile, came from New Orleans. He spent his early childhood summers there. And that helps explain his musical stew. Randy Newman fronted the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra a few years ago for one of the best ever pops concerts. A great evening of him at the piano with many of his songs, stories and jokes.
“As the final page turns of one song book, another songbook begins,” Yagoda says in conclusion of this continuing story.
A comprehensive forty-five page appendix supports this well-written and interesting book. Record charts for Yagoda’s frequent mentions of song and record rankings, such as number one or top ten, came from books published by Billboard, edited and written by Joel Whitburn of Menomonee Falls, a suburb adjacent to Milwaukee.
Among the pleasures of reading library books is finding ephemera in the pages. This copy of the book includes a clipped-out review of the book from three years ago. http://archive.jsonline.com/entertain...
NPR: http://www.npr.org/2015/01/23/3790866...
September 1, 2015
I try not to brag too much but I must say that I probably have forgotten more music history in my 40 years on this planet than you probably ever knew. This is because you were probably out living a productive life and I wasn't so there's no Douchebaggery intended there.
Even so however there was a time that was a bit of a mystery to me. I knew that WWII fractured Jazz along with James C. Patrillo and all the record bans. I also knew that between 1955 and 1960 Rock and Roll came, was assimilated, was injured beyond repair and was replaced by the New Tin Pan Alley. This leaves a gap in American popular music that is filled by songs like "If I'd have known you were coming I'd have baked a cake" and "How much is that Doggy in the Window" that is supposed to be covered in this book.
I was interested, really interested in this book because if you are writing a book about the period covering 1950-1955 you are usually writing about the end of Jazz and the Great American Songbook, or 2.) writing about the nascent Rock and Roll scene, but not both. On top of that most of them ignore the pop of this time which this book claims it is not going to do.
I can say that I found no insights about this time period that I couldn't find on Wikipedia or in your standard History of Rock and Roll textbook.
One problem is the book should be about twice as long. Everything in it is rushed. Every time I was just getting to something interesting or even noteworthy the chapter would end. EVERY TIME!
Take my advice, if you are new to this subject read "William Knowlton Zinsser's "Easy to remember, the great American songwriters and their songs" and then read a good Rock and Roll book. Ken Burns’ "Jazz" Book and Documentary will also help. The book under review here assumes you know the crap from those three sources before you open the book so I imagine that the beginner will find it rather incoherent
For the expert there is nothing really new here.
I don't like giving bad reviews so I'll say here that if this looks interesting to you than by all means read it. You may find something that I missed and I would like nothing more in the world. I just don't think you will.
Good Reading Everybody
Even so however there was a time that was a bit of a mystery to me. I knew that WWII fractured Jazz along with James C. Patrillo and all the record bans. I also knew that between 1955 and 1960 Rock and Roll came, was assimilated, was injured beyond repair and was replaced by the New Tin Pan Alley. This leaves a gap in American popular music that is filled by songs like "If I'd have known you were coming I'd have baked a cake" and "How much is that Doggy in the Window" that is supposed to be covered in this book.
I was interested, really interested in this book because if you are writing a book about the period covering 1950-1955 you are usually writing about the end of Jazz and the Great American Songbook, or 2.) writing about the nascent Rock and Roll scene, but not both. On top of that most of them ignore the pop of this time which this book claims it is not going to do.
I can say that I found no insights about this time period that I couldn't find on Wikipedia or in your standard History of Rock and Roll textbook.
One problem is the book should be about twice as long. Everything in it is rushed. Every time I was just getting to something interesting or even noteworthy the chapter would end. EVERY TIME!
Take my advice, if you are new to this subject read "William Knowlton Zinsser's "Easy to remember, the great American songwriters and their songs" and then read a good Rock and Roll book. Ken Burns’ "Jazz" Book and Documentary will also help. The book under review here assumes you know the crap from those three sources before you open the book so I imagine that the beginner will find it rather incoherent
For the expert there is nothing really new here.
I don't like giving bad reviews so I'll say here that if this looks interesting to you than by all means read it. You may find something that I missed and I would like nothing more in the world. I just don't think you will.
Good Reading Everybody
January 20, 2015
This is an excellent reference source for the student of American songwriting that divides songwriting into fascinating eras of creative music and changing public tastes. It is a catalog of tune writers, lyricists, and their works. There are comparisons of tunes written by accomplished musicians, with songs developed by untrained writers working systematically to meet industrial needs. The transition from songs recorded by crooners in the first half of the twentieth century to productions by a single songwriter-singer-producer today, is especially interesting.
Folks who remember Mitch Miller on TV in the 50s will be astonished to learn about his extraordinary power and influence in the recording industry. His contributions and heavy hand are covered in detail throughout the book.
The author’s catalog includes lists of songs spanning a century, and for those who did not grow up hearing them and are not familiar with them, the reading experience will be diluted unless they are able to find recordings of the old tunes. The listing of songwriters is extensive. It could be enhanced with back stories to enrich the history behind some of the authors, and break up the tedium of a directory.
For serious students of songwriting history, particularly American songwriting, this is a must have for their bookshelves. For the casual reader, it is an enjoyable history lesson that is both interesting and informative.
Folks who remember Mitch Miller on TV in the 50s will be astonished to learn about his extraordinary power and influence in the recording industry. His contributions and heavy hand are covered in detail throughout the book.
The author’s catalog includes lists of songs spanning a century, and for those who did not grow up hearing them and are not familiar with them, the reading experience will be diluted unless they are able to find recordings of the old tunes. The listing of songwriters is extensive. It could be enhanced with back stories to enrich the history behind some of the authors, and break up the tedium of a directory.
For serious students of songwriting history, particularly American songwriting, this is a must have for their bookshelves. For the casual reader, it is an enjoyable history lesson that is both interesting and informative.
May 19, 2015
Mr. Yagoda has written a brief history of the "American Songbook". The Songbook was diominant from the mid 1920s to about the mis 1950s. Mr. Yagoda describes in sufficient detail the qualities of the work in the Songbook and some of the reasons for its closing. Mr. Yagoda's work is intended for the general reader who does not have even an elementary knowledge of music theory. One of the consequences of this lack of attention to theory is that it is hard for this reader to fully understand the unique structures of the works that go into the Songbook. But this is a relatively minor quibble. A book about changes in musical styles and tastes needs to be accompanied by a CD where the reader can listen to the melodic and harmonic structures that make the standards, well, standards. More distracting than the inadequate discussion of the melodic and harmonic underpinnings of classic American pop music is Mr. Yagoda's throwing out names and song titles so that this reader felt he was leafing through a Schwann catalogue. Whew. Not very readable. Sometimes less is more. Or better, putting lists into an appendix so it does not interrupt the narrative flow. With a good editor the book's could have been pared down to a Wikipedia entry without losing much of the historical arc Mr. Yagoda describes.
April 18, 2015
A fascinating sweep through music history with emphasis on the major transition periods from Jazz to Swing and into the post-WW II period when solo singers began to dominate the charts. Excellent coverage of how technology would affect recording output as radio, the juke box, and TV would have their respective impact. As did record size, with a big leap coming in 1948 when the 33 1/2 LP and 45 replaced the 78. During all this " The Great American Songbook" was in flux as we moved from Tin Pan Alley and early 20th century songwriters and composers into the Rock n' Roll era. Rock, like Swing was greeted with suspicion and even condemnation by the older generation. But with the arrival of the Beatles, it established its staying power and proved more than a passing trend.
Very well-written and organized, includes a bounty of delightful anecdotes and is strong on analysis.
Very well-written and organized, includes a bounty of delightful anecdotes and is strong on analysis.
January 4, 2015
This book by Yagoda was different from most I have read recently. He tells us why our music is different than it was before and the reasons behind it. It was fascinating to read about the early years of this century, even the last century, and how the songwriters wrote their songs. The emphasis upon hollywood and the emphasis upon broadway and musicals were interesting. How the unions and other organizations played their part to end the period of good songs was very interesting. Anybody interested in the history of music, orchestras, singers, and sheet music will enjoy this well researched, but interesting book.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom It May Concern"
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom It May Concern"
January 23, 2018
The creation of ASCAP and BMI - and their fights in and out of court; Mitch Miller (Columbia) vs. Sinatra; Berlin, Gershwin, Mercer, etc. The "Great American Songbook" and its creators - actually a subjective amalgamation of the greatest songs written from the twenties - 1950. Yagoda covers the lead-up to this golden era, from the late 1800's, and finishes with some rock'n'roll era music. Nostalgic stuff, and you might learn a few things about some great secular music. My book was borrowed from local library (Kindle).
April 28, 2015
The book's premise is that we, music lovers, have lived for nearly a half century without any important singers or songs. Yagoda cleverly weaves the history of the business of music with anecdotal stories of songwriters. This reference definitely should find a place in a music lover's bookcase.
Read
April 6, 2015Review by David Cohen for the Jewish Book Council.
April 14, 2015
Loved following the progressive peaks and valleys of musical expression! A great response to the perennial "why do the kids always write/play/listen to such garbage?"
July 8, 2023
I'm not sure the sub-title is entirely matched to the experience of the book. Yagoda tells a history of the songwriters generally grouped into the heading of the Great American Songbook. You know - Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, George & Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, etc., etc. He does talk about the end of the production line that those writers served - around 1950, even before rock & roll took over the pop charts, there were fewer calls for the kinds of songs those writers provided. Novelties, oddities, and sonic experimentation were selling more and more.
I guess Yagoda's idea of the rebirth comes in the chapter on 60s rock, though his emphasis - correctly, to my ears - on the Beatles leaves out the idea of "American" song. He does explain the dichotomy between the old school of popular song and what arose out of rock'n'roll and r&b in the 60s. It's also very interesting to read the reactions of the older writers to the 50s rise of this music. I forget who it is that complains music became predominantly percussive at that time. If complex harmonic and melodic playfulness had been your thing, rock'n'roll would have freaked you out, especially if it was simultaneously cutting into your income.
This is not the deepest book on music I've read, but it's a good overview, with some interesting stories, of the pop music world of the first half of the 20th Century, and interacts well with what I know of jazz, blues, and country/western at that time.
I guess Yagoda's idea of the rebirth comes in the chapter on 60s rock, though his emphasis - correctly, to my ears - on the Beatles leaves out the idea of "American" song. He does explain the dichotomy between the old school of popular song and what arose out of rock'n'roll and r&b in the 60s. It's also very interesting to read the reactions of the older writers to the 50s rise of this music. I forget who it is that complains music became predominantly percussive at that time. If complex harmonic and melodic playfulness had been your thing, rock'n'roll would have freaked you out, especially if it was simultaneously cutting into your income.
This is not the deepest book on music I've read, but it's a good overview, with some interesting stories, of the pop music world of the first half of the 20th Century, and interacts well with what I know of jazz, blues, and country/western at that time.
February 18, 2021
Vividly described history of the Tin Pan Alley era. Indispensable research for my Harry Warren biographical novel due out in late 2021.
December 11, 2016
Review title: Who killed the songwriter?
Yagoda's historical whodunit tells the fascinating story of the transition of popular music from the "Great American Songbook" of 1925-1950 to the rock and roll era that laid it to rest. To many, the murder weapon was Elvis Presley's hips and the murder scene was The Ed Sullivan Show, but Yagoda goes beyond the circumstantial evidence to find the DNA trail.
First, the victim, the "Great American Songbook": Yagoda describes it as a unique confluence of individual talent (Jerome Kern and the Gershwins), technological advances (78rpm records replacing paper sheet music), institutional structures (the publishing industry and copyright laws that became Tin Pan Alley), and the cultural mix of New York Jewish immigrants and African-American harmonies and rhythms. This potent DNA resulted in a body of work that is recognized as the popular music standards that continued to be recorded and updated even after the rock and roll revolution by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and many others.
Then what happened? Technology took another turn, at a slower pace: 45rpm records spun slower but fit a single song on either side, providing a platform for the "race" (rhythm and blues) or "hillbilly" (country) music bubbling up around the edges of Tin Pan Alley. Then 33rpm LPs (Long Play) provided time for long form albums such as Mitch Miller's "mood music" that showed the overdone excess of the Songbook taken to its extreme. Radio, copyright decisions, and the post-World War II economics stuck more stakes in the body of the Songbook. Novelty tunes, interestingly including a burst of Christmas songs following the huge success of "White Christmas", flourished in the gap as the Songbook suffered, while Elvis, Buddy Holly, and those African-American and country musicians found a broader audience.
But at the crime scene, Yagoda makes an important discovery buried in the evidence: the Great American Songbook never really died. He concludes this history with evidence that the Beatles early covers honored the Songbook and the Lennon and McCartney originals not only echoed but created new ones. He documents the continued power of Sinatra's voice, the rise of new singers going back to the Songbook, and the influences of the Songbook on the broader range of popular music now getting recorded and sold.
Yagoda is no curmudgeon bemoaning the loss of the popular music of the 30s and 40s. He is an even-handed historian who tells the story with humor and evidence. And the story is a lively and exciting account of the music we listen to everyday, and how it survived the crime scene.
Yagoda's historical whodunit tells the fascinating story of the transition of popular music from the "Great American Songbook" of 1925-1950 to the rock and roll era that laid it to rest. To many, the murder weapon was Elvis Presley's hips and the murder scene was The Ed Sullivan Show, but Yagoda goes beyond the circumstantial evidence to find the DNA trail.
First, the victim, the "Great American Songbook": Yagoda describes it as a unique confluence of individual talent (Jerome Kern and the Gershwins), technological advances (78rpm records replacing paper sheet music), institutional structures (the publishing industry and copyright laws that became Tin Pan Alley), and the cultural mix of New York Jewish immigrants and African-American harmonies and rhythms. This potent DNA resulted in a body of work that is recognized as the popular music standards that continued to be recorded and updated even after the rock and roll revolution by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and many others.
Then what happened? Technology took another turn, at a slower pace: 45rpm records spun slower but fit a single song on either side, providing a platform for the "race" (rhythm and blues) or "hillbilly" (country) music bubbling up around the edges of Tin Pan Alley. Then 33rpm LPs (Long Play) provided time for long form albums such as Mitch Miller's "mood music" that showed the overdone excess of the Songbook taken to its extreme. Radio, copyright decisions, and the post-World War II economics stuck more stakes in the body of the Songbook. Novelty tunes, interestingly including a burst of Christmas songs following the huge success of "White Christmas", flourished in the gap as the Songbook suffered, while Elvis, Buddy Holly, and those African-American and country musicians found a broader audience.
But at the crime scene, Yagoda makes an important discovery buried in the evidence: the Great American Songbook never really died. He concludes this history with evidence that the Beatles early covers honored the Songbook and the Lennon and McCartney originals not only echoed but created new ones. He documents the continued power of Sinatra's voice, the rise of new singers going back to the Songbook, and the influences of the Songbook on the broader range of popular music now getting recorded and sold.
Yagoda is no curmudgeon bemoaning the loss of the popular music of the 30s and 40s. He is an even-handed historian who tells the story with humor and evidence. And the story is a lively and exciting account of the music we listen to everyday, and how it survived the crime scene.
January 15, 2015
I was given an advance copy of The B-Side by Ben Yagoda. I am pleased to be able to recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of American popular music.
The B Side, by Ben Yagoda, is a readable and entertaining study of America’s songwriting history. Yagoda focuses on Tin Pan Alley and the Great American Songbook- the artists who wrote the music and lyrics; and the performers who presented the songs live, then on the radio, and later on records. I learned about the conflict between ASCAP and BMI- the organizations which make and enforce the rules so that artists are paid when their work is performed. ASCAP pursued a 19-year-long - lawsuit against its younger rival- a lawsuit that they ultimately could not could not win because they could not show specific damages. I also learned what an important figure, Mitch Miller- “the Beard” rose to be in the world of popular music. Miller was especially hated by Frank Sinatra, who believed Miller interfered with his art by commercializing recordings with novelty effects- echo chambers, cracking whips (“Mule Train”), of which Sinatra wanted no part. And Miller usually managed to get a piece of the action (royalty payments) for himself, even when he made little or no contribution to the finished record. But his records with all the gimmicks did sell, so for years he was the big man at Columbia Records...not to mention his success with the “Sing Along With Mitch” record albums and TV show.
From Tin Pan Alley, the book moves on to Broadway musicals; Hollywood, where composers were paid very well; then to the era of the Big Bands- both swing and sweet. Then on to Rock and Roll, and Teeny Bopper music- “All the Things You Are” was out; “She Wears Short Shorts” was in.” Elvis, the Beatles, various folksingers, Dylan, Country and Western, Black artists whose hit records were covered by an exact duplicate of the same song performed by a white singer…it’s all there, including the Payola scandal when disk jockeys were paid to promote records. Finally the music scene came full circle when jazz artists, such as Ella Fitzgerald, cut successful albums of the old standards (The Cole Porter Songbook, et al).
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in American popular music. The research is there, but the book moves along and can be enjoyed by the casual reader as well as more serious students of the subject.
The B Side, by Ben Yagoda, is a readable and entertaining study of America’s songwriting history. Yagoda focuses on Tin Pan Alley and the Great American Songbook- the artists who wrote the music and lyrics; and the performers who presented the songs live, then on the radio, and later on records. I learned about the conflict between ASCAP and BMI- the organizations which make and enforce the rules so that artists are paid when their work is performed. ASCAP pursued a 19-year-long - lawsuit against its younger rival- a lawsuit that they ultimately could not could not win because they could not show specific damages. I also learned what an important figure, Mitch Miller- “the Beard” rose to be in the world of popular music. Miller was especially hated by Frank Sinatra, who believed Miller interfered with his art by commercializing recordings with novelty effects- echo chambers, cracking whips (“Mule Train”), of which Sinatra wanted no part. And Miller usually managed to get a piece of the action (royalty payments) for himself, even when he made little or no contribution to the finished record. But his records with all the gimmicks did sell, so for years he was the big man at Columbia Records...not to mention his success with the “Sing Along With Mitch” record albums and TV show.
From Tin Pan Alley, the book moves on to Broadway musicals; Hollywood, where composers were paid very well; then to the era of the Big Bands- both swing and sweet. Then on to Rock and Roll, and Teeny Bopper music- “All the Things You Are” was out; “She Wears Short Shorts” was in.” Elvis, the Beatles, various folksingers, Dylan, Country and Western, Black artists whose hit records were covered by an exact duplicate of the same song performed by a white singer…it’s all there, including the Payola scandal when disk jockeys were paid to promote records. Finally the music scene came full circle when jazz artists, such as Ella Fitzgerald, cut successful albums of the old standards (The Cole Porter Songbook, et al).
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in American popular music. The research is there, but the book moves along and can be enjoyed by the casual reader as well as more serious students of the subject.
January 26, 2016
I received a copy from First Reads in return for an honest review.
The B Side is an in depth look at music in America over the course of multiple decades, mainly concentrating in the 40s and 50s. As I am not well versed in music, but always interested in learning something new, I thought The B Side would be a good book for me. However, I would not recommend this book for someone with a passing fancy in music; it is best for someone who has a passion for this era of music.
The list of names and songs is exhaustive and I found it difficult to follow who was who and what they meant to this era. This could be partially because I have no background or prior knowledge of this music, which again, is why I believe this book best for someone who does.
The reason for not rating this book is that I don't believe it would be fair to do so. The writing is good and the topic would hold interest for many, but this was not my type of book. I didn't feel right giving it a based off of my overall experience as this was one of those "it's me, not you" books.
The B Side is an in depth look at music in America over the course of multiple decades, mainly concentrating in the 40s and 50s. As I am not well versed in music, but always interested in learning something new, I thought The B Side would be a good book for me. However, I would not recommend this book for someone with a passing fancy in music; it is best for someone who has a passion for this era of music.
The list of names and songs is exhaustive and I found it difficult to follow who was who and what they meant to this era. This could be partially because I have no background or prior knowledge of this music, which again, is why I believe this book best for someone who does.
The reason for not rating this book is that I don't believe it would be fair to do so. The writing is good and the topic would hold interest for many, but this was not my type of book. I didn't feel right giving it a based off of my overall experience as this was one of those "it's me, not you" books.
August 11, 2015
Yagoda's, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Yagoda, book is a through history of American music from 1885-1965 and highlights the great song writers and lyricists. He also highlights the singers of these great songs. He discusses the struggles between American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) http://www.ascap.com/ and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) http://www.bmi.com/. The book's main premise explains how American music transitioned from Tin Pan Alley and popular standards to the big band, jazz, rock and roll sounds to the music through the 1960s. The role Mitch Miller of "Sing Along with Mitch" fame had on this transition. If you want to know how we got to where we are today in the music industry you must read this book. There are plenty of insider stories to accompany the history. There is a very comprehensive book list in the back of the book that lists the books cited in the research and I found a few that I have already ordered and plan to read. If you are a history buff of the Great American Songbook, this is a must read.
March 8, 2015
There's some absolutely great stuff in here. Particularly interesting is the great battle between ASCAP (the old guard) and BMI. It's hard to believe how reactionary these guys were. Rather ironic that you could write a song like "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" and then complain about "Hound Dog" and "Yakety Yak." You'd think that, even if the composers had a problem with all the three chord songs, the lyricists would at least grasp the wit of some of these tunes. Anyway, the book is mostly successful, but the last chapter, which tries to wrap up all the great songwriters since Bacharach certainly fails--not only because it's an impossibly large task, but because it fails to get at one of the most important features of songwriting since the tin Pan Alley days: that you don't have to write love songs, novelty songs, or songs for the plot of some Broadway or Hollywood production. You can write "It's Alright, Ma," or "Lucifer Sam" or "Venus In Furs" or "A Day in the Life" or "Cabinessence."
Read
April 16, 2015This book was a great trip down memory lane mentioning lots of titles I have not thought about since elementary school. How nice to be in elementary school when Mitch Miller degraded the sophisticated song book down to a novelty songs appropriate to elementary school kids. The story we all learned was that rock killed the classic American song book. But the story is much more complicated with a number of changes including the general inclusion of broader groups of Americans represented by Country, Folk, Jazz, and Blues . It was also a business conflict between the radio stations who formed BMI and the traditional New York writers who had created ASCAP in the early twentieth century. When jazz changed from popular music(swing) to art music it lost its [o[pular audience,.But although the old guard hated the new music, ultimately the Beatles and others created equally sophisticated music. What sets this book apart is that it combines an appreciation of the old with an appreciation of the new. It is a thoughtful positive book and I had a lot of fun reading it,
September 13, 2015
This is a very readable history of the era which gave us what is now known as The Great American Songbook. (While I love the songs it represents, I have mixed feelings about that phrase, but I digress.) The author does a good job of tracing the historical, social and musical influences which brought about thits remarkable time in American music and why it ended when it did. It is well researched and presented, though at times the author seems to get so cauhgt up in his passion for the subject that he wanders a bit, making it sort of hard to view his thesis in a unified fashon. That's a minor point though and I would highly recommend this to anyone whith an interest in the subject.
December 13, 2015
This is a history of American popular music from Irving Berlin to the Beatles. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It includes background stories about the songwriters, the singers, the promoters and producers, the changes from the days when sheet music was the primary source of income for the creators and producers, and the huge change in the music business when rock 'n roll came on the scene in the late 1950s, to the horror of most of those who created the Great American Songbook. There weren't many great songs written between Elvis and the Beatles, but the Beatles arrived with songs that have become classics.
March 4, 2016
Yagoda follows the trajectory of American songwriting from the late-1880s to the late 1960s, and in doing so, tells the story of "The Great American Songbook," that elusive place where all our "standards" come from. With sociological scrutiny, he addresses the lull in American songwriting that happens between WWII and the birth of contemporary pop music — Brill Building, Motown, Beatles and the like. This was a lovely companion to just about every music book I've ever read, filling so many gaps in my musical knowledge. Better yet, it's told with reverence and love for the music of (nearly) all the parties involved. Highly recommended for serious music lovers.
March 21, 2015
I can't tell you how often I've asked my music maven brother whatever became of the American Standard. And each time he tells me, "Well, tastes changed. People just wanted something else." That's only part of the story. Ben Yagoda has really delved into the history, politics and economics of the music business to express what really happened to Tin Pan Alley in this really entertaining, wonderful, thoroughly researched book. I am a huge fan of the American Standard, and maybe that helped me in giving this the five stars I think this fascinating treatment so richly deserves.
June 29, 2015
if you are fairly serious about modern music then this book is essential ... this book is not about whether Standards are better than other forms of music, and quite a few here have missed the point; rather, the Great American Songbook sits at the very intersection of modern music, it's influence is broad and constant, it's songs are beautiful art - and so, to understand music in 2015 it helps to know these songs and their history and evolution
September 21, 2015
One of the best books I've ever read about the Great American Songbook. It explains so well how the standards became standard and how the sequence of events wasn't as simple as "They used to write great songs and then rock and roll wrecked everything." Yagoda illuminates the details of the constantly changing music industry and the American way of life and paints a vivid picture of the evolution of American popular song. Superb!
January 26, 2016
Fantastic! I was completely enthralled by this book, especially by some of the side bits, like how BMI was a response to ASCAP not letting certain styles of songwriters in, and how much of the course of American popular music was steered by legal matters like the ASCAP strike. My only complaint is that some chapters seemed to be written as though other things hadn't come before, and so repeated some of the same stories.
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