A Century of American Songs

100 Essential American Songs

(1861 - 1961)

The classification of a song is a short piece
having both words and music.Therefore, there are no instrumental works included on this list.
The categories include:
classical, folk, blues, jazz, pop (or easy listening), stage musicals, movie songs, country & western, rhythm & blues, and rock .
Naturally not all the great songs could be included. It is a matter of subjective opinion which song might be greater than another. There is no way to please everyone's musical tastes.
The survey is based on three criteria:
1. songs which are representative of a musical style.
2. songs evoking their historical period.
3.songs chosen because of their popularity
in sheet music or record sales.
The list of 100 songs is not based solely on surveys such as the Billboard charts, but the authoritative reference books by Joel Whitburn were used as sources and are indicated where appropriate.
If you are in search of vintage
American music collections and CDs, go here:
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Music Titles from PineTree Press

American Recordings Project

The year 2009 marks the the 250th anniversary of the
FIRST SONG WRITTEN BY AN AMERICAN.

To honor this anniversary, a survey of recommended recordings is being prepared listing American music from 1759 to 1959.

The recordings will include a cross section of music, including 18th century psalm tunes, 19th century patriotic songs; 20th century classical, jazz, stage & screen, country & western, rock, and rhythm & blues songs, plus more music.

Funds are needed to publish this important survey in 2009.

If you know of a possible publisher or
would like to help fund this important preservation project,
write to:

American Recordings Project

Do you have favorite songs and themes from the past?
Then consider joining this web group: The Tune Lovers Society Membership is Free.
See also the annual
National Carry A Tune Week

Send your comments or questions about the 100 songs to:

AMP

100 American Songs
From
The Civil War
To
The Cold War

(1861 - 1961)
Selected by Roger Hall, music preservationist

+ = Top 100 hits (8 or more weeks at No. 1) in
Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories, 1890 - 1954

$ = Top 100 Singles, 1955-1995 (3 or more weeks at No. 1) in
The Billboard Top 100 Singles, 1955-1995,
compiled by Joel Whitburn

Songs listed below marked with # are available on
America in Song, Volune 2 (1861 - 1961)

Note: Songs are arranged by date, not by popularity or Billboard listing, and emphasis is given to songs written before 1950 due to their historical significance.

w= words/ m = music

I. The Civil War
(1861 - 1865)

1.# "John Brown's Body" (1861) - w: C.S. Hall (?)
2.# "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (1862) -
w: Julia Ward Howe/ m: William Steffe
3. # "Aura Lea (or Lee)(1861) - w & m: W.W. Fosdick and George Poulton (the tune later used for "Love Me Tender" in 1956)
4. "The Vacant Chair" (1861) - w: H.J. Washburn/ m: George F. Root
5. "The Bonnie Blue Flag" (1861) - w: Harry McCarthy
6. # "A Prayer for the Captive" (1862) - w & m: Cecilia DeVere
(Shaker Pacifist Hymn)
7. # Go Down, Moses" (c. 1862) - Afro-American Spiritual
8. "The Battle Cry of Freedom" (1862) - w & m: George F. Root
9. # "Willie Has Gone to the War" (1863) - w & m: Stephen Foster
10. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (1863) -
w & m: Patrick S. Gilmore

II. The Sentimental Age
(1869-1889)

11. # "Angel of Peace" (1869) - w: Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes/
m: Matthias Keller (written for National Peace Jubilee in Boston)
12. # "Home on the Range" (1873) -
w: Dr. Brewster M. Higley/ m: Daniel E. Kelley
13. # "Grandfather's Clock" (1876) - w & m: Henry Clay Work
14. "Oh, Promise Me!" (1889) -
w: Clement Scott/m: Reginald De Koven

III. The 1890s
15. # "After the Ball" (1892) - w & m: Charles K. Harris
16. # "Waltz" (1894) - w & m: Charles Ives
17. # "Prayer of Thanksgiving (We Gather Together)" (1894) -
translated and arranged by Dr. Theodore Baker
18. # "On the Banks of the Wabash" (1897) - w & m: Paul Dreiser
19. # "Hello, Ma Baby" (1899) -
w & m: Joseph E. Howard & Ida Emerson

IV. Rise of Tin Pan Alley
(1900-1910)

20. "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (1900) - w: James W. Johnson/
m: J. Rosamond Johnson
21. +"Sweet Adeline" (1903) -
w: Richard H. Gerard/ m: Harry Armstrong
22. "Toyland" (1903) - words: Glen McDonough/
music: Victor Herbert
23. +"Meet Me in St. Louis" (1904) - w: Arthur B. Sterling/
m: Kerry Mills
24. # "Give My Regards To Broadway" (1904) -
w & m: George M. Cohan
25. "I Love You Truly" (1906) - w & m: Carrie Jacobs-Bond
26. # +"You're a Grand Old Flag" (1906) -
w & m: George M. Cohan
27. +"My Gal Sal"(1907) - w & m: Paul Dresser
28.  "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (1908) - words: Jack Norworth/
m: Albert Von Tilzer
29. +"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (1909) - w: Edward Madden/ m: Gus Edwards

V. Home Life
and
World War I
(1911-1919)
30. +"Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1911) - w & m: Irving Berlin
31. "My Melancholy Baby" (1912) - w: George A. Norton/
m: Ernie Burnett
32. +"On Moonlight Bay" (1912) - w: Edward Madden/
m: Percy Weinrich
33. "Danny Boy" (1913) - w & m: Frederick Edward Weatherly
34. "St. Louis Blues" (1914) - w & m: W.C. Handy
35. "They Didn't Believe Me" (1914) - w: Michael E. Rourke/
m: Jerome Kern
36. +"Over There" (1917) - w & m: George M. Cohan
37. "The Lament of Ian the Proud" (1918) - w: Fiona MacLeod/
m: Charles Tomlinson Griffes
38. +"Rock-a-Bye Your Baby" (1918) - w: Sam Lewis & Joe Young/
m: Jean Schwartz
39. # +"Swanee" (1919) - w: Irving Caesar/ m: George Gershwin
VI. The Roaring Twenties
(1920-1929)

40. +"Whispering" (1920) - w & m: John Schonberger,
Richard Coburn, Vincent Rose
41. "Goin' Home" (1922) - w: William Arms Fisher/
m: adapated from Dvorak's "Largo" theme
42. +"April Showers" (1921) - w: Buddy De Sylva/ m: Louis Silvers
43. "Manhattan" (1925) - w: Lorenz Hart/ m: Richard Rodgers
44. "Someone to Watch Over Me" (1926) - w: Ira Gershwin/
m: George Gershwin
45. # +"My Blue Heaven" (1927) - w: George Whiting/
m: Walter Donaldson
46. "Ol' Man River" (1927) - w: Oscar Hammerstein II/
m: Jerome Kern
47. "I Can't Give You Anything But Love"(1928) -
w: Dorothy Fields/ m: Jimmy McHugh
48. # "Star Dust" (1929) - w: Mitchell Parrish/ m: Hoagy Carmichael
49. "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1929) - w: Andy Razaf/ m: Fats Waller

VII. The Great Depression
(1930-1938)

50. "I Got Rhythm" (1930) - w: Ira Gershwin/ m: George Gershwin
51. "Mood Indigo" (1931) - w & m: Edward "Duke" Ellington and Irving Mills
52. # "Brother Can You Spare A Dime?" (1932) - w: E.Y. Harburg/
m: Jay Gorney
53. +"Night and Day" (1932) - w & m: Cole Porter
54. # +"The Last Round-Up" (1933) - w & m: Billy Hill
55. "Sophisticated Lady" (1933) - w: Mitchell Parrish, Irving Mills/
m: Duke Ellington
56. +"Stormy Weather" (1933) - w: Ted Koehler/ m: Harold Arlen
57. "Solitude" (1934) - w: Eddie DeLange, Irving Mills/
m: Duke Ellington
58. "Begin the Beguine" (1935) - w & m: Cole Porter
59. +"Cheek to Cheek" (1935) - w & m: Irving Berlin
60. "I've Got You Under My Skin" (1935) - w & m: Cole Porter
61. "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936) - w: Dorothy Fields/
m: Jerome Kern
62. "They Can't Take That Away From Me" (1937) -
w: Ira Gershwin/ m: George Gershwin
63. "Our Love is Here to Stay" (1937) - w: Ira Gershwin/
m: George Gershwin
64. # "God Bless America" (1938) - w & m: Irving Berlin

VIII. Radio, Movies
and
World War II
(1939-1949)

65. # "All the Things You Are" (1939) - w: Oscar Hammerstein II/
m: Jerome Kern
66. "Over the Rainbow" (1939) - w: E.Y. Harburg/ m: Harold Arlen
67. "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" (1940) -
w: Lorenz Hart/ m: Richard Rodgers
68. "This Land is Your Land" (1940/ pub.1956) - w & m: Woody Guthrie
69. "When You Wish Upon a Star" (1940) - w: Ned Washington/
m: Leigh Harline
70. # +"I'll Never Smile Again" (1940) - w & m: Ruth Lowe
71. "Blues in the Night" (1941) - w: Johnny Mercer/
m: Harold Arlen
72. # +"Chattanooga Choo-Choo" (1941) - w: Mack Gordon/
m: Harry Warren
73. +"White Christmas" (1942) - w & m: Irving Berlin
74. # "People Will Say We're in Love'"(1943) - w: Oscar Hammerstein II/ m: Richard Rodgers
75. # "Ac-cent-tchuate the Positive" (1944) - w: Johnny Mercer/
m: Harold Arlen
76. "It Might As Well Be Spring" (1945) - w: Oscar Hammerstein II/
m: Richard Rodgers
77. "There's No Business Like Show Business" (1946) - w & m: Irving Berlin
78. +"Near You" (1947) - w: Kermit Goell/m: Francis Craig
79. +"Ghost Riders in the Sky" (1949) w & m: Stan Jones

IX. The Early Fifties
(1950-1954)

80. # "Mona Lisa" (1950) - w: Ray Evans/ m: Jay Livingston
81. +"Goodnight, Irene" (1950) - w & m: Huddie Ledbetter & Alan Lomax
82. "High Noon" (1952) - w: Ned Washington/ m: Dimitri Tiomkin
83. +"You Belong to Me" (1952) - w & m: Pee Wee King,
Redd Stewart, Chilton Price
84. # "Cold, Cold Heart" (1952) - w & m: Hank Williams
85. "Secret Love" (1953) - w: Paul Francis Webster/ m: Sammy Fain
86. "Earth Angel" (1954) - w & m: Curtis Williams

X. Youth Market
and
The Cold War
(1955-1961)
87. $ "Rock Around the Clock" (1955) - w & m: Max Freedman and Jimmy DeKnight
89. # $"Sincerely" (1955) - w & m: Harvey Fuqua & Alan Freed
90. $ "Don't Be Cruel" (1956) - w & m: Otis Blackwell (not co-written by Elvis Presley)
91. $ "Love Me Tender" (1956) - w & m: Ken Darby (adapted from 1861 song "Aura Lee" - not co-written by Elvis Presley )
92. " On the Street Where You Live" (1956) - w: Alan Jay Lerner/
m: Frederick Loewe
93.   "True Love" (1956) - w & m: Cole Porter
94.   "All the Way" (1957) - w: Sammy Cahn/ m: James Van Heusen
95.   "Maria" (1957) - w: Stephen Sondheim/ m: Leonard Bernstein
96. $ "Don't" (1958) - w & m: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
97.   "Small World" (1959) - w: Stephen Sondheim/ m: Jule Styne
98. "Camelot" (1960) - w: Alan Jay Lerner/ m: Frederick Loewe
99. "Crazy (1961) - w & m: Willie Nelson
100. "Moon River" (1961) - w: Johnny Mercer/ m: Henry Mancini

+ = Top 100 hits (8 or more weeks at No. 1) in
Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories, 1890 - 1954

$ = Top 100 Singles, 1955-1995 (3 or more weeks at No. 1) in
The Billboard Top 100 Singles, 1955-1995,
compiled by Joel Whitburn

Songs listed above marked with # are available on

America in Song, Volume 2 -
From The Civil War to The Cold War
(1861-1961)

Songwriters with 2 or more songs on the Top 100:
Harold Arlen = 4 [1933, 1939, 1941, 1945]
Irving Berlin = 4 [1911, 1938, 1942, 1946]
Sammy Cahn = 2 [1957, 1963]
George M. Cohan = 3 [1904, 1906,1917]

Duke Ellington = 3 [1931, 1933, 1934]
Dorothy Fields = 2 [1928, 1936]
George Gershwin = 5 [1919, 1926, 1930, 1937 (2) ]
Ira Gershwin = 4 [1926, 1930, 1937 (2) ]
Oscar Hammerstein II = 4 [1927, 1939, 1943, 1945]
E.Y. Harburg = 2 [1932, 1939]
Lorenz Hart = 2 [1925, 1941]
Jerome Kern = 4 [1921, 1927, 1936, 1940]
Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe = 2 [ 1956, 1960]
Johnny Mercer = 3 [1941, 1945, 1961]
Mitchell Parrish = 2 [1929, 1933]
Cole Porter = 4 [1932, 1935 (2), 1956]
Richard Rodgers = 4 [1925, 1941, 1943, 1945]
George F. Root = 2 [1861, 1862]
Stephen Sondheim = 2 [1956, 1959]
Ned Washington = 2 [1940, 1952]

TOTAL = 60 songs by the above 21 songwriters in the Top 100 list

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100 Essential Songs

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