Category Archives: American popular music

The Stoughton Musical Society: early New England music’s savior

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Stoughton Musical Society plaqueThe Stoughton Musical Society, founded in 1786, is America’s oldest continuously operating musical institution. It was founded under the inspiration of a singing school presented in Stoughton by William Billings, America’s first notable composer.

When Lowell Mason drove Billings’ music out of New England churches, the society continued to sing it. Preserving the tradition eventually became a core aspect of its mission.

The society incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts in 1908 and changed its name to Old Stoughton Musical Society. Continue reading →

Hail Columbia: almost the national anthem

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early printing of Hali Columbia

Early printing of Hail Columbia, with a portrait of President John Adams

“Hail Columbia” is not a well-known song today, but it has a prominent place in American history. It became a hit immediately after its first performance and remained popular for more than a century.

Of all patriotic songs before the Civil War, only “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “America” rivaled “Hail Columbia” in popularity. The former uses the old English drinking song “Anacreon in Heaven” and the latter the English national anthem “God Save the King.”

Oscar Sonneck, who examined these and many of the patriotic songs that never caught on with the public, noted, “”’Hail Columbia’ holds a position quite unique in the history of our national songs for both the words and the music were written in America.”

The word “Columbia” obviously comes from the name Christopher Columbus. The District of Columbia and Columbia University share the name. Columbia is a lady, by the way. Continue reading →

Sleepy Lagoon by Eric Coates and Jack Lawrence

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Sleepy lagoon at Selsey

East Beach at Selsey. The plaque says “This view across the sea to Bognor Regis inspired Eric Coates to compose “By the Sleepy Lagoon” in 1930. It became the BBC signature tune for “Desert Island Discs.” / © Barry Shimmon via Geograph

Many top American songs have become hits immediately. A fair number have made little impression at first but became hits later. These include Easter Parade, I’ll Be Seeing You,  and My Funny Valentine.

 But how many of those belated hits have been based on music of a British composer working in a completely different genre with words by someone who had never met him? Only “Sleepy Lagoon” by Eric Coates comes to mind. Coates composed it in 1930. It only became a hit twelve years later, and first on the other side of the pond. Continue reading →

You’ll Never Know, by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon

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Alice Fay singing You'll Never Know

Alice Fay singing You’ll Never Know in Hello Frisco, Hello

As World War II raged, Hollywood turned to nostalgia of a simpler, safer time. A common theme in movie musicals portrays young performers trying to find success in the entertainment business.  A successful wartime example, Hello Frisco, Hello came loaded with dozens of songs that had been hits at the turn of the century. The team of Harry Warren and Mack Gordon provided one original song, “You’ll Never Know.” Introduced by Alice Faye, it immediately became a hit and won the 1943 Oscar for best original song.

Let’s look at the movie, the song, Warren, Gordon, and Faye. Continue reading →

Just before and after the battle: two songs by George F. Root

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The American Civil War inspired more great songs than any other conflict. George Frederick Root composed a large share of them. Some of them are rousing patriotic tunes, such as Battle Cry of Freedom. But he also composed songs about the devastating impact of the war on American families.

“Just Before the Battle, Mother” is one of the earliest of these. It became such a great hit that it inspired many other songs. Root himself composed more than one of them, including the companion piece “Just After the Battle.”

It also inspired parodies that take a very different viewpoint. Continue reading →

Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s Civil War concert tour

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gottschalk tour poster

Gottschalk tour poster, 1860s

Louis Moreau Gottschalk became the first internationally famous American piano virtuoso and composer. Given his importance and popularity, it may come as a surprise that he spent so little time in the United States. His most important American concert tour coincided with the Civil War.

All his life, Gottschalk kept a journal, in French. In 1881, his sister Clara Peterson and her husband translated it to English and had it published as Notes of a Pianist. It has proved to be one of the great musical diaries of the nineteenth century. Gottschalk recorded detailed observations with sardonic wit. Continue reading →