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摘要
摘要
A comprehensive anthology bringing together more than one thousand of the best American and English song lyrics of the twentieth century; an extraordinary celebration of a unique art form and an indispensable reference work and history that celebrates one of the twentieth century's most enduring and cherished legacies.
Reading Lyrics begins with the first masters of the colloquial phrase, including George M. Cohan ("Give My Regards to Broadway"), P. G. Wodehouse ("Till the Clouds Roll By"), and Irving Berlin, whose versatility and career span the period from "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to "Annie Get Your Gun" and beyond. The Broadway musical emerges as a distinct dramatic form in the 1920s and 1930s, its evolution propelled by a trio of lyricists--Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin, and Lorenz Hart--whose explorations of the psychological and emotional nuances of falling in and out of love have lost none of their wit and sophistication. Their songs, including "Night and Day," "The Man I Love," and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," have become standards performed and recorded by generation after generation of singers. The lure of Broadway and Hollywood and the performing genius of such artists as Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, Ethel Waters, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Ethel Merman inspired a remarkable array of talented writers, including Dorothy Fields ("A Fine Romance," "I Can't Give You Anything but Love"), Frank Loesser ("Guys and Dolls"), Oscar Hammerstein II (from the groundbreaking "Show Boat" of 1927 through his extraordinary collaboration with Richard Rodgers), Johnny Mercer, Yip Harburg, Andy Razaf, Noël Coward, and Stephen Sondheim.
Reading Lyrics also celebrates the work of dozens of superb craftsmen whose songs remain known, but who today are themselves less known--writers like Haven Gillespie (whose "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" may be the most widely recorded song of its era); Herman Hupfeld (not only the composer/lyricist of "As Time Goes By" but also of "Are You Makin' Any Money?" and "When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba"); the great light versifier Ogden Nash ("Speak Low," "I'm a Stranger Here Myself," and, yes, "The Sea-Gull and the Ea-Gull"); Don Raye ("Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Mister Five by Five," and, of course, "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet"); Bobby Troup ("Route 66"); Billy Strayhorn (not only for the omnipresent "Lush Life" but for "Something to Live For" and "A Lonely Coed"); Peggy Lee (not only a superb singer but also an original and appealing lyricist); and the unique Dave Frishberg ("I'm Hip," "Peel Me a Grape," "Van Lingo Mungo").
The lyricists are presented chronologically, each introduced by a succinct biography and the incisive commentary of Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball.
评论 (3)
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Most people remember a song better than they remember a poem. During the 1900^-75 scope of this sterling anthology, remembering a song was remembering a poem. That span was the heyday of the classic American popular song, which re-expressed all the old emotions in language invigorated by the dialects of all the external and internal immigrants drawn to America's burgeoning industrial centers. The typical classic American popular song--any of the 1,000-plus examples editors Gottlieb and Kimball have chosen--is rife with those pnemonic aids par excellence, rhyme and wordplay. Accordingly, you could use the book for a party game, the object of which would be seeing who recalls the most songs and, beyond that, can sing them. With lyricists including all the superstars, from Cohan to Sondheim, and plenty whose songs' fame have outlived that of their names, such as Haven Gillespie ("Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town") and Edward Eliscu ("Without a Song"), the party could take all of a grand night for singing. Oh!--get a copy for the reference desk, too. --Ray Olson
Choice 评论
While a good tune can lift pedestrian lyrics, the converse can also be true; but when both text and music are superior, we witness the creation of the art form known as the popular song. Reading Lyrics is a collection of about 1,000 of the most memorable and enduring lyrics of the first three-fourths of the 20th century. Both compilers are well known and respected (particularly Kimball for his work on giants of American musical theater); it would be difficult to find anyone better positioned to assemble such a work. They acknowledge that some forms of popular music--rock, country, blueslie outside their specializations and hence are not represented. The book emphasizes the lyricist as much as the words themselves. It is arranged by lyricist in roughly chronological order, each given a brief biographical essay and commentary. For no lyricist are fewer than three lyrics reprinted, but some--Porter, Gershwin, Hammerstein--are given much more, as befits their importance. One is str uck by how remarkable some lyrics are, divorced (on paper, if not in one's mind) from their music. The wit of Ira Gershwin, the carefree whimsy of Johnny Burke, the absurdity of Ogden Nash, come together to remind us that one reacts to lyrics differently than to poetry. The book reinforces that besides the giants, there are many lyricists of the second rank who together have created a magnificent body of work. J. Farrington Eastman School of Music
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Gottlieb (editor, Reading Jazz) and Kimball (editor, The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin) have assembled 1000 popular American and English song texts dating from 1900 to 1975 and arranged them chronologically by lyricist's birth date. Focusing solely on theater and film songs, the editors profile more than 100 songwriters, including Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstein, Yip Harburg, and Stephen Sondheim. Each entry details their musical contributions and three or more lyrics with verse(s) and refrain. Country, rock, folk, and blues numbers go unmentioned, as they would not have fit in this single volume. "One-hit wonders" are also listed at the back along with an index of song titles. The inclusion of lesser-known songs by major figures such as Irving Berlin or by little-remembered writers such as Mann Holiner or Sam Coslow seems to pad the volume rather than enhance its usefulness. Unfortunately, the title, too, is misleading: Reading Lyrics is more of a compilation than an interpretative work. This book is recommended, however, as a sanctioned print alternative to various lyric web sites for libraries serving a clientele seeking popular song texts and information.DBarry Zaslow, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.