Everybody's Doin' It: Sex, Music, and Dance in New York, 1840-1917

by Dale Cockrell

"Racy scholarship does the Grizzly Bear here with theoretical rigor." —William Lhamon, author of Raising Cain

Everybody’s Doin’ It is the eye-opening story of popular music’s seventy-year rise in the brothels, dance halls, and dives of New York City. It traces the birth of popular music, including ragtime and jazz, to convivial meeting places for sex, drink, music, and dance. Whether coming from a single piano player or a small band, live music was a nightly feature in New York’s spirited dives, where men and women, often black and white, mingled freely—to the horror of the elite.

This rollicking demimonde drove the development of an energetic dance music that would soon span the world. The Virginia Minstrels, Juba, Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin and his hit “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” and the Original Dixieland Jass Band all played a part in popularizing startling new sounds.

Musicologist Dale Cockrell recreates this ephemeral underground world by mining tabloids, newspapers, court records of police busts, lurid exposés, journals, and the reports of undercover detectives working for social-reform organizations, who were sent in to gather evidence against such low-life places. Everybody’s Doin’ It illuminates the how, why, and where of America’s popular music and its buoyant journey from the dangerous Five Points of downtown to the interracial black and tans of Harlem.

Genres: History, Music, Nonfiction, New York, American History, Sociology, Society

285 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 13, 2019

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter. — John Keats

If Keats is right, then the music Dale Cockrell introduces us to here—as raucous, untutored, and wild as it may have been—must be the sweetest of all.

This is a wonderful little book. It is brief, scholarly, clearly written, and it explores the nexus of sex, music, and dance in urban popular culture from the 1840s to the late teens of the 20th century. It demonstrates how, wherever music and dancing came together, prostitution, alcohol, race-mixing and class-mixing were never far behind, and suggests that the frenzied, free-spirited atmosphere created by this cultural stew—cooked up in the venerable dives, beer gardens, and “blind tigers” of New York—prepared the way for the celebrated Jazz age that was to come.

What I love most about this book is that Cockrell never forgets about the music. Whether he is speaking about the work of the reformers and their commissions, or about how the laws of the city council affected the business of bars, theaters and the sex workers, Cockrell always has one ear cocked to catch the tinny sounds of the professor banging away at his piano, the strains of the comely three-piece girl-combo, the frenetic flailing of the drummer, the screech of the high-note specialist wailing away on a his horn. Alas! Neither Cockrell or we will ever be able to hear them. But he does an excellent job of making us almost hear them, and that is an achievement in itself.

To tell this tale, Cockrell has chosen to limit himself to New York City, where documentation is extensive. He makes extensive use of early yellow journalism (whose authors were often jailed for obscenity), and on the published reports of the commissions for moral reform (which, ironically, are often more graphic than the censored newspapers themselves.) Many of the descriptions he reproduces are quite vivid, and for those who of us who relish detailed accounts of the dark underbelly of New York, Cockrell has produced a book that belongs on a small shelf along with Herbert Ashbury’s The Gangs of New York (1927), Albert Parry’s Garrets and Pretenders: A History of Bohemianism in America (1933), A.J. Liebling’s The Telephone Booth Indian (1942), and Luc Sante’s Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York (1991).

Here, is a memorable passage from one of the most vivid and oldest accounts, taken from George Goodrich Foster’s Herald Tribune column “New York in Slices,” published in 1848. Here he describes the music of a “Five Points” dive called “Dicken’s Place” (after the British novelist who reportedly visited during his American tour):

[Y]ou may imagine that the music of Dicken’s Place is of no ordinary kind. You cannot see the red-hot knitting needles spirited out by the red-faced trumpeter, who looks precisely as if he were blowing glass, which needles aforesaid penetrating the tympanum, pierce through and through your brain without remorse. Nor can you percieve the frightful mechanical contortions of the base drummer as he sweats and deals his blows on evey side, in all violation of the laws of rhythm, like a man beating a balky mule and showing his blows upon the unfortunate animal, now on this side, now on that.

Now, how’s that for sweet unheard music?

[Rama Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boogie Nights: Domestic Revolution in 19th century New York

Author Dale Cockrell focuses on music and popular dance forms to narrate the social history of Manhattan in the late nineteenth- and early-twentieth century. It is a historical study of popular music and dance that identifies a connection between uninhibited sex and dancing which included gay sex, orgies, and interracial sex. These were widely promoted in Manhattan bars, brothels, and dance halls where sale of sex for cash was endemic. Social dancing was one of the ways that sex and music were linked. This book looks at race, class, popular culture, and sexuality, which includes the centrality of African-American musical culture, the sexual attitudes and behavior of working-class Americans, and the anti-vice crusaders like Anthony Comstock, Rev. Charles Parkhurst, and others who paved the way for urban Anti-Vice Commissions of the early twentieth-century that targeted these gathering places that facilitated inter-racial socializing which were believed to be inherently immoral.

When Charles Dickens visited the United States in 1842, he visited several bars in the Five Points area of Manhattan, just east of today’s Centre Street & north of Worth Street, a neighborhood which at the time had both large black and Irish populations. Tap dancing was invented here by combining Irish step-dancing and African rhythmic patterns. Another account of musical life by journalist George Goodrich Foster gives an even more vivid picture of the musical and sexual atmosphere. The author tries to correlate these anecdotes to illustrate how musical exuberance, dancing and sexual acts occurred.

The 1987 movie Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey exploited a cultural banality of people’s feeling about dancing and sex. Boogie Nights, the 1997 film about a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a porn star ties the cultural myth about dancing halls and sex. The Argentine tango, a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the brothels of Buenos Aires around the same time as the emergence of ragtime in New York. The author points out that ragtime, a new musical, and dance form was composed by black musicians, to be played in dance halls and brothels was rarely written down but it is the first identifiable style of jazz. Many of these places were multi-racial venues, known also as “black and tans” which the vice crusaders campaigned against. This devastated the City’s nightlife and undermined many of its musical venues. It targeted black-run clubs to racially divide the social life.

Everybody’s Doin’ It is a follow-up from Cockrell’s previous book, Demons of Disorder. This book integrates the history of working-class culture and openness of sexuality in New York. The author is musicologist and not a social historian. He traces the birth of jazz music in the dance halls and dives of New York City, but the book chapters do not flow well from one to another, and images and illustrations shown in this book has white folks in the dance hall and never shows a mixed gatherings of blacks and whites.

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on our historic rowdiness.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting little slice of pop culture americana research. I enjoyed all the drawings and anecdotes, especially. Really gives you an inside look into culture of big city common people

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you know that 1 in 3 musicians in New York within the scope of this book played in environments and locations with connections to commercialized sex? I definitely didn’t before this book lol. This is a fascinating look at the human condition, reform, social and cultural history, the history of gender and sexuality, and so much more. It highlights the specific development of music and dance just as much as the environments— many of them considered seedy, raunchy, if not illegal, especially to middle class sentiments— that produced them.

[Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well researched, but it seemed to be a narrow and specific review of morality of the common people of NY during the years between the Civil War and WWI. We hear about the "morality police" cracking down on people's behaviors in Iran and Afghanistan in the present time, and Cockrell's book reminds me that NY had it's own version of "morality police" during the decades of review. Reformers and religious leaders crusaded against what they thought of as immoral activities. This included drunkeness and prostitution as expected, but also objections to the music, song lyrics, and the way couples danced together in these times. Cockrell lists a number of long gone clubs and hotels and business owners who allowed customers to behave in a manner which the "morality police" found objectional. Objectional activities included the obvious, but also down to women smoking, or lifting their skirts when they danced showing their ankles and knees, etc.
I found the book too repetitive for my taste, and I felt for those only mildly interested in the topic, a much shorter book would have been a better choice.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more a study of the kinds of venues in which pre-jazz popular dance music flourished in 19th century America, and the licentious activities that went hand in hand with the music and dancing, than a study of the music itself. This is partly because there is not as much evidence of what exactly musicians were playing in these contexts, but plenty of evidence describing lower-class establishments and what went on there thanks to the various anti-vice efforts of the era.
Cockrell writes engagingly and often humorously about the dance-halls, saloons, and seedy dives of early New York, painting a rollicking and vivid picture of the grittier entertainments and pastimes available in the city. He's also more sympathetic towards the sexualized dancing that went on and the prostitutes that worked in these places than the sources he's drawing on. It all makes for a fascinating look at the early bar and club scene in the city and the soundtrack that sustained it.

[Rachel Spivey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated the depth of information the author provided, but reading the book as someone who does not often read academic papers was difficult. The tone was more suited to a historical research essay than anything. DNF after 2/3 complete, though not for lack of trying: I had to return it to the library.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to know more about what must have been the very early stages of the sexual revolution. But I found it hard to just read about historical music and dance. YouTube made it come alive for me. Checkout the 1902 “tough” dance and “What is Ragtime” clips - perfect compliments to this book.

[Christine Sopko · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rarely put books down and try to power through them to glean info. The title was engaging but I felt like a little kid being dragged to a history museum that I didnt want to go to. I did put the book down...but I also did some heavier reads at the same time.

[Nick Spacek · Rating 1 out of 5]

self-important, bloviating tripe. i've never wanted to throw a book so hard across the living room as this one, especially after reading cockrell's introduction. it only goes downhill from there.

[Giselle · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF'd 35 pages in

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is what happens when a researcher is left unsupervised. A fascinating era and interesting sociological change expressed with the interest of a wet dishrag.

[Madeline W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a weird focus, but you bet I'm snagging more for my list from his bibliography

[Niels Guldager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting - links prostitution, dance and music in New York. YouTube will be your friend when you want to learn the ‘grizzly bear’ (careful) and other tough dances...

[Michael Lovito · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scholarly with a capital S but certainly interesting for the way it details early (like, 1860s early) attempts to legalize prostitution in New York.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It was very easy to Google most of the dances mentioned to get a good idea of the scene downtown and how it changed over the years.

[Michelle "Champ" · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was well researched, the problem that I had was it was hard for me to visualize the description of the dances, I think probably because I know nothing about dancing. You can tell that Mr. Cockrell is highly intelligent by reading his text, and sometimes that flowery vocabulary doesn't fit in with the vulgar talk of prostitution and dancing.

I do feel like I learned a little bit about the history of the dance and glad I read this one.

[Glenmichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scholarly, engaging and educational. I loved the testimonies and documentation. You get a real taste of the link between decadance and creativity ( much like New Orleans ). Some of the names of the establishments are fantastic.. and should be revived ! I'll read more from this author.