Songs, Singers and Society, 1890-1954
1954; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 6; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/3031396
ISSN1080-6490
Autores Tópico(s)Musicology and Musical Analysis
ResumoTHE reader cannot help remembering the lyrics of one of the hit songs of 1953, I Believe, which had to do with newborn babies' cries affirming the existence of Someone in the Great Somewhere who hears every word of our prayers. To anyone accustomed to the blase or neurotic song hits of twenty or twenty-five years ago, this ballad is amazinguntil one considers that as the social climate changes, so does the music most suited to it. In 1928 or 1933, when faith was outr6, all the song pluggers in existence could not have sold I Believe to the American people. Today, with our mood strongly affirmative, such a song is natural hit material. The mysterious empathy between the ancient and his audience is still with us, even though the modern minstrel is no longer a simple bard with his lute, but a high-pressure, big-business aggregation of composer, lyricist, arranger, vocalist, and publicity man. This composite entity must be just as sensitive as the troubador of yore to what his public wants; for his bread, no less than that of the wandering bard, depends upon his striking a receptive note in the hearts of his listeners.1 Especially since the closing years of the nineteenth century, when the urbanization, mechanization, and consequent standardization of American culture began to foster the development of a truly national taste and a big music industry to cater to it, we have been pursued by a plethora of hungry songwriters and singers. The musical products which have caught our fancy have become a part of our folklore. Despite the brilliant pioneering of the late Isaac Goldberg's
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