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Re: survey and Musical/Tin Pan Alley
- From: Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>
- Subject: Re: survey and Musical/Tin Pan Alley
- Date: Sat 21 Mar 1998 22.10 (GMT)
Responding to the message of <01BD54D9(dot)6F28C060 (at)
nysh1-41(dot)flash(dot)net>
from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
>
> Sometimes in February, I stopped reading almost all of the Jewish-music
> mail and am just now beginning to catch up with everything. Just
> found this post.
>
> First let me say Gideon Aronoff, that I very much appreciated your
> comments below. I have been learning more and more about Lieber and
> Stoller and have become fascinated by all this whole topic.
> Furthermore, it's totally fascinating at how Jews in general are always
> so adept at articulating and defining the local cultural values and
> essences for both Jews and non-Jews whether that its film, or music or
> art, business, or politics, etc.; or whether the country is America,
> Germany, Poland, Italy, France, or Arab countries, etc.
>
> Second, Alex Lubet, do you know or anyone else know what Phillip Roth's
> hilarious explanation of White Christmas and Easter Parade? I would
> love to hear the explanation.
>
> Did you hear what Cole Porter said when someone asked him how you write
> a Broadway melody? He said "Well, first you start with a Yiddish song."
>
>
> Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky
>
I'll see if I can't find out which novel it's in. Roth claims that those songs
are a means to secularize the major Christian holidays as a means of deflecting
anti-Semitism. It's meant, I think, as one of those jokes with an element of
truth in it. If you want to read a great book on Broadway lyricists, get
Phillip Furia's "The Poets of Tin Pan Alley." It has that Porter anecdote in
it, but every other lyricist is, not surprisingly, Jewish.
>
>
> ----------
> From: Alex Lubet[SMTP:lubet001 (at) maroon(dot)tc(dot)umn(dot)edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 1998 12:00 PM
> To: World music from a Jewish slant.
> Subject: Re: survey and Musical/Tin Pan Alley
>
> Responding to the message of <52eb93f6(dot)34e1d23f (at) aol(dot)com>
> from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
> >
> > Alex Lubet wrote:
> >
> > "I like to think of the musical (also the classic Tin Pan Alley song) as a
> > Jewish genre, although I'm not exactly sure what's Jewish about it.
> > (lbviously, there are Yiddish theatre antecedents, but I specualte that
> > there's more)."
> >
> > Alex and all:
> >
> > I suspect that the answer will come more from sociology than musicology.
> > Tin
> > Pan Alley, musical theater, as well as the Brill Building songwriters and
> > producers like Lieber and Stoller, Phil Specter, Carol King etc. all seem
> > to
> > share two characteristics. There is an obvious deep love of words that
> > seems
> > fully appropriate for the "People of the Book." Also these classic
> > American
> > songs seem so deeply non-Jewish, eg. White Christmas, that they can best be
> > understood in the context of American assimilationism. Like the film
> > industry, the music business is full of Jews articulating what it means to
> > be
> > American, that is to say not Jewish. All of this is important in
> > understanding the place of Jews in American culture, and in no way detracts
> > from the wonderful music that these Jews created.
> >
> > Alternatively, there is a small trend for some popular performers to add
> > explicit Jewish content to their music. Peter Himmelman, John Zorn, and
> > Phish
> > are examples.
> >
> > Gideon Aronoff
> >
> >
> >
> >Thanks. Phillip Roth has a hilarious explanation of White Christmas and
> Easter
> Parade, but I can't remember which novel it's in. It's hilarity owes a great
>
> deal to its truth.
>
>
> Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
> Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
> Adjunct Professor of American Studies
> University of Minnesota
> 100 Ferguson Hall
> Minneapolis, MN 55455
> 612 624-7840 (o)
> 612 699-1097 (h)
> 612 626-2200 ATTN: Alex Lubet (FAX)
>
>
> .
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
100 Ferguson Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612) 624-7840
(612) 626-2200 (FAX)