Singers and the Song
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Book Overview
Led by Frank Sinatra, the generation that emerged during and after World War II raised the performance of the popular song to the level of art. Gene Lees' fascinating book examines some of the most gifted of these singers, including Sinatra, Dick Haymes, Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford, and Sarah Vaughan.
Far from being the simple intuitive performers the public thought it knew, these people emerge--in Singers and the Song--as intelligent, skillful, and fully conscious artists dedicated to their work. Lees also discusses the composers, including the great film composer, Hugo Friedhodfer, and the supremely talented lyricist, Johnny Mercer; explores the language of the popular song; focuses on the social history of twentieth-century America, seen through the mirror of popular music; and examines the theme of war, from the Viking conquest of northwestern France, through World War II, to the present.
Far from being the simple intuitive performers the public thought it knew, these people emerge--in Singers and the Song--as intelligent, skillful, and fully conscious artists dedicated to their work. Lees also discusses the composers, including the great film composer, Hugo Friedhodfer, and the supremely talented lyricist, Johnny Mercer; explores the language of the popular song; focuses on the social history of twentieth-century America, seen through the mirror of popular music; and examines the theme of war, from the Viking conquest of northwestern France, through World War II, to the present.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0195060873
ISBN13:9780195060874
Release Date:November 1989
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Length:272 Pages
Weight:0.55 lbs.
Dimensions:0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
The Best Ever
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
I was simply overwhelmed by the sweep and depth of this book. It is much more than a collection of essays about Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Mercer, Peggy Lee et al. It is a brilliantly written history of the great days of Amerian popular music -- circa 1935-1950 -- with side excursions into etymology, culture, the art of songwriting, geography, sociology, linguistics and, above all, musicality. Lees, himself a fine lyricist, shows and tells how it's done, who did it, where they succeeded and where they failed, and what finally happened to the era of American musicianship at its best. For those with the slightest interest in popular music, this book is a treasure.
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