09-04-2016, 09:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-04-2016, 09:08 PM by Eric the Green.)
Show music!
Some of the best music of the twenties through the sixties, and even today, was written for broadway plays and movies. But alas, a lot of time the instrumentation for these tunes is too ostentatious and "showy" and just nauseatingly shallow. But sometimes the genius of the songwriters and singers shines through. This one I nominate as a best song ever features the first lady of Broadway and the first man of American songwriting. It is the theme song of show business itself.
This version sung by Ethel Merman is from the movie Annie Get Your Gun (1954). The song itself was composed for the play in 1946, but featured a different singer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_...w_Business
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Merman
Composer George Gershwin called the composer of this song, Irving Berlin, "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived", and composer Jerome Kern concluded that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music—he is American music."
I don't always like his songs that much myself. As the wiki article notes, Berlin intended his songs to appeal to middle-brow Americans, and he didn't even write down the musical notation himself. So sometimes his songs, of which "God Bless America" is typical, are pedestrian and common, and don't have the deeper passionate or mystical appeal. But that's just what makes them special for many "middle" Americans and others around the world. They are direct, accessible and easy to listen to, and he also made ragtime a big deal early on too. He was so prolific and successful that you can't ignore him, or others like him, and I do think a few of his songs were great-- even in my opinion-- such as this theme for show-business itself. Next to God Bless America, and White Christmas (which I won't be choosing either), it's probably his most famous song. But, just as I won't be choosing The Star Spangled Banner for this list (though others are free to do so!), I won't be choosing Irving's anthem either. But, maybe there's a couple of other American anthems I'll choose.
Some of the best music of the twenties through the sixties, and even today, was written for broadway plays and movies. But alas, a lot of time the instrumentation for these tunes is too ostentatious and "showy" and just nauseatingly shallow. But sometimes the genius of the songwriters and singers shines through. This one I nominate as a best song ever features the first lady of Broadway and the first man of American songwriting. It is the theme song of show business itself.
This version sung by Ethel Merman is from the movie Annie Get Your Gun (1954). The song itself was composed for the play in 1946, but featured a different singer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_...w_Business
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Merman
Composer George Gershwin called the composer of this song, Irving Berlin, "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived", and composer Jerome Kern concluded that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music—he is American music."
I don't always like his songs that much myself. As the wiki article notes, Berlin intended his songs to appeal to middle-brow Americans, and he didn't even write down the musical notation himself. So sometimes his songs, of which "God Bless America" is typical, are pedestrian and common, and don't have the deeper passionate or mystical appeal. But that's just what makes them special for many "middle" Americans and others around the world. They are direct, accessible and easy to listen to, and he also made ragtime a big deal early on too. He was so prolific and successful that you can't ignore him, or others like him, and I do think a few of his songs were great-- even in my opinion-- such as this theme for show-business itself. Next to God Bless America, and White Christmas (which I won't be choosing either), it's probably his most famous song. But, just as I won't be choosing The Star Spangled Banner for this list (though others are free to do so!), I won't be choosing Irving's anthem either. But, maybe there's a couple of other American anthems I'll choose.