The Great American Songbook

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The Great American Songbook

Q: What is the Great American Songbook?

The Great American Songbook is a term for a canon of American popular songs and jazz standards from the first half of the 20th century, primarily written for Broadway shows, musical theater, and Hollywood musicals. It includes the work of professional composers and lyricists who worked in vaudeville and the Tin Pan Alley songwriting industry.

Q: Which composers and lyricists are part of the Great American Songbook?

Important composers and lyricists of the Great American Songbook include Duke Ellington , Jerome Kern , Harold Arlen , Johnny Mercer , Dorothy Fields , Hoagy Carmichael , Fats Waller , Stephen Sondheim , Irving Berlin , Cole Porter , Noël Coward , George and Ira Gershwin , Richard Rodgers , Lorenz Hart , and Oscar Hammerstein II .

Q: What characteristics do songs in the Great American Songbook share?

Songs in the Great American Songbook have a timeless quality, allowing for interpretation with different tempos and moods. They evoke universal emotions such as love, heartbreak, nostalgia , joy, and optimism. Examples include Ray Noble’s “The Very Thought of You,” Arthur Hamilton’s “Cry Me a River,” and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart ’s “Blue Moon.”

Q: Who are some notable performers of songs of the Great American Songbook?

Notable performers of songs of the Great American Songbook include Ella Fitzgerald , Fred Astaire , Rosemary Clooney , Nat King Cole , Sammy Davis, Jr. , Judy Garland , Billie Holiday , Lena Horne , Dean Martin , Mel Tormé , Bing Crosby , Peggy Lee , Johnny Mathis , Al Jolson , Louis Armstrong , Dinah Washington , Sarah Vaughan , and Nina Simone .

Q: How did the Great American Songbook evolve in the late 20th and early 21st centuries?

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries artists such as Ringo Starr , Joni Mitchell , Carly Simon , Rufus Wainwright, and Lady Gaga reinterpreted the standards of the Great American Songbook. Other contemporary artists, including Harry Connick, Jr. , Diana Krall , and Michael Bublé , built their careers on reinterpreting the Songbook.

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History

What is the Great American Songbook?

Which composers and lyricists are part of the Great American Songbook?

What characteristics do songs in the Great American Songbook share?

Who are some notable performers of songs of the Great American Songbook?

How did the Great American Songbook evolve in the late 20th and early 21st centuries?

The Great American Songbook, term given to a canon of American popular songs and enduring jazz standards written mainly during the first half of the 20th century. The Songbook is not a physical book, nor is there one definitive list of songs, songwriters, and performers included in its “pages.” Rather, it is a loosely defined canon of influential songs written by professional songwriters, including those in vaudeville and the Tin Pan Alley songwriting industry, largely for Broadway shows, other types of musical theater, and Hollywood musicals. The bulk of the songs were written during an especially fruitful period of American songwriting, between 1920 and 1960. The songs considered to be part of the canon have been performed and enjoyed by generation after generation, long after they were first written. Among the Songbook’s gatekeepers are the Great American Songbook Foundation and the American Songbook Preservation Society.

Songs of a “timeless” quality

It is difficult to predict which songs will eventually become part of the Songbook, since only time will tell. However, the songs that are considered to be part of the canon have several characteristics in common. The structure of the songs invites performers to interpret and reinterpret them with different tempos and moods. The songs have a “timeless” quality, a resonance that inspires listeners to respond to them, and they refer to universal emotions and situations. Many of the Songbook songs are about love or heartbreak, such as songwriter Ray Noble’s “The Very Thought of You” and songwriter Arthur Hamilton’s “Cry Me a River.” Others evoke nostalgia, joy, celebration, optimism in hard times, and a multitude of other human experiences and stories.

Classic composers, lyricists, singers, and musicians of the Songbook

Fats WallerAmerican composer Fats Waller playing a piano, 1938. His contributions to the Great American Songbook include the songs “Ain't Misbehavin'” and “Honeysuckle Rose.”

Among the important composers and lyricists whose work is included in the Great American Songbook are Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Dorothy Fields, Hoagy Carmichael, Fats Waller, and Stephen Sondheim. Some composers—such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Noël Coward—wrote both music and lyrics. Others worked in teams, one person writing music and one writing lyrics. George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, and Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II are three such famous partnerships.

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Because of the enduring popularity of Songbook songs, any list of the singers and musicians who brought them to life is bound to be incomplete. Among the luminaries who have enlivened the Songbook are Ella Fitzgerald—considered one of the greatest interpreters of the Songbook—as well as Fred Astaire, Rosemary Clooney, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis, Jr., Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé, Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Al Jolson, Margaret Whiting, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Sam Cooke, Sarah Vaughan, and Nina Simone. Musicians have created dazzling instrumental versions of some of the songs, including John Coltrane’s interpretation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things” and Thelonious Monk’s adaptation of Irving Caesar and Vincent Youmans’s “Tea for Two.”

New interpretations and song contributions

During the 1970s, interest in the Great American Songbook began to return, starting with former Beatle Ringo Starr’s 1970 album Sentimental Journey. In 1972 Carmen McRae released The Great American Songbook, and country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson put his spin on the standards with the 1978 album Stardust. Five years later Linda Ronstadt released the first of her Songbook albums, What’s New.

In the 21st century, enthusiasm for the Songbook has grown. Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Rufus Wainwright, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Lady Gaga (dueting with Tony Bennett) are just a few of the artists who have reinterpreted the standards. Several contemporary artists have built their careers on reinterpreting the Songbook, including Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, and Michael Bublé.

There is no scholarly consensus on when the period of the Great American Songbook begins and ends. Some enthusiasts argue that the period ended in 1950, while others claim that it ended when rock and roll began to gain popularity during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Still other observers contend that songs that belong in the Songbook canon have been written in every decade since the 1960s and are still being written today. Like the older songs, these newer songs have structures that invite reinterpretation, but they also have a more contemporary feel. Songwriters who are mentioned for inclusion in this new stage of the Songbook include two partnerships: composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David and lyricist Jerry Leiber and composer Mike Stoller. Other “New Songbook” songwriters and performers mentioned for inclusion are Michael Feinstein, Carole King, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Kris Kristofferson, Barry Manilow, and Billy Joel.