TIN PAN ALLEY
Contributed by
Varro
on
Saturday, 19th April 2003 @ 09:25:00 PM in AEST
Topic:
Nostalgic
|
There was a street in New York town
Where tunesmiths wrote such songs of renown.
They were the songs we knew so well,
Ballads, lullabies, show tunes, do tell!
We whistled their melodies so well.
Cohan and Handy, Biederbecke too,
Crawdaddy with cakewalks, a popular view.
Porter and Gershwin, Kern, Julie Styne,
Warren and Rodgers and Hammerstein,
Fields and Crosby later did shine!
The publishers rallied, Von Tilzer and Hugh.
All hearts were aching for something brand new.
Scott Joplin and Johnson so many we loved,
Young Izzy, Old Irving and sweet Turtledove.
Fondly, happily song pluggers named
Those orchestra leaders of voice and such fame,
Performed to the public and all people came.
These popular songs reached far, everywhere,
Sheet music sold millions, the pluggers declared.
"Whistling Rufus," "When I lost You,"
"Peg 'O My heart," remember that too?
"The Longest Way Round is the Sweetest Way Home."
Bert Williams and others created the tone.
The gramophone came to make magic those days.
"Sweet Rosie O'Grady," on records was played.
So many, too many, we can't name them all.
Composers and writers had answered the call.
Demand grew for more , the pluggers were pleased.
This cry for more music the publishers seized.
On round discs, then flat, they had such a spree,
Demand was satisfied, they smiled with glee!
Broadway and Sixth, at street Twenty-eight,
Made famous these tunes, the effects were so great!
Ragtime and Jazz, Blues and Big Bands,
All made recordings from happy to bland.
Lyceum and Orpheum, even the Strand,
Sprouted in towns throughout all the land.
The banjo, the tuba, the sax and guitar,.
Piano, trombone and bass were the star.
Trumpets and drums accompanied them too,
Clarinets added with French Horns they blew.
Jelly Roll Morton had been all the rage,
Mary Lou Williams and John took the stage.
Summertime sweethearts all answered the call,
When "After the Ball," had started it all.
Rosenfeld coined it, cacophony bloomed.
Pianos were pounded in many a room.
And so, many decades have come and have gone,
These songs and their makers have thus carried on.
Their music is ageless, a voice from the past,
Forever will fill us, forever will last.
____________________________
Copyright ©
Varro
... [
2003-04-19 21:25:00]
(Date/Time posted on
site)
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