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From the Civil War
Julia Ward Howe ("Battle Hymn of the Republic")
See
"Lincoln and Liberty" - Music from Abraham Lincoln's Era (AMRC No. 11)
to
the Cold War
Elvis Presley and The Jordanaires ("Don't Be Cruel")
See
Early Elvis
This page covers songs written between 1861 and 1961.
Read the list of...
100 Essential American Songs (1861-1961)
If you use any of the information on this page,
please give credit to
American Music Preservation.com
The day would never end...."
These opening lyrics are by Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu from the 1929 song, recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1961, and they describe how important a song can be in someone's life.
Elvis Presley admired the words to this song and quoted them at a press conference. He knew the value of a song to his audience and to himself.
Today most of what we get on radio, TV and movies are the same kind of badly sung songs, with mumbling voices and weak singing.
Do we really need this type of junk music ruling our lives?
Is "American Idol" really what we want as the criteria
for the best of our music culture?If you feel differently, you don't have to take it anymore!!
You can replace it with good music. For example songs sung by today's fine stylists like Linda Eder and Tony Bennett. Or by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland or Ella Fitzgerald -- to name just a few of the many great pop singers from the past.
All these singers deserve to be remembered.In addition, there have been thousands of worthwhile American popular songs written in the past century or so. Why not perform more of them?
Most new songs today are gushed over by
celebrity-crazed critics and journalists.Many of these songs are here today and forgotten tomorrow, sung by those who have limited vocal ability or musical style.
Meanwhile extremely talented songwriters and singers
from earlier decades are being forgotten or ignored.They were part of the
We need to preserve these great songs
for future generations of listeners and musicians.If you really care about saving popular songs from the past,
you can support the efforts of this web site by
ordering music at the
Play Ball!
2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the most popular baseball song:
"Take Me Out To The Ball Game"
American Recordings
Now in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the
FIRST SONG WRITTEN BY AN AMERICAN
is a list of recommended recordings
of earlier American music in two sections:I. 1759 - 1860
II. 1861 - 1959
The recordings will include American classical, folk, jazz, stage & screen, country & western, rock, rhythm & blues, and other music.
These recordings will be based partly on these lists of
50 Essential American Songs, 1759-1860
100 Essential American Songs, 1861-1961
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:
Read about
Popular Songwriters and The Great American Songbook
After watching the excellent seven-part TV series, THE WAR, produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick,
and elegantly written by Geoffrey C. Ward,
you might want to order the music used in this series.
The music is available both in a Deluxe 4 CD Edition with Viewer's Guide and Booklet
a single CD soundtrack...
The War -- 4 CD set with 2 booklets
Disc One: The War (soundtrack, 17 tracks)
Disc Two: Sentimental Journey (Song Hits, 20 tracks)
Disc Three: I'm Beginning To See The Light (Dance Hits, 20 tracks)
Disc Four: Songs Without Words (Classical Music, 10 tracks)
The War -- single soundtrack CD (17 tracks)
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Here are five more CDs of music from the World War II Era:
As Time Goes By: World War II Songs
3 CD Set (65 tracks)
Those Were Our Songs: Music of World War II
2 CDs (40 tracks)
G.I. Jukebox: Songs from World War II
1 CD (18 tracks)
Songs That Got Us Through WWII
1 CD (18 tracks)
Songs That Got Us Through WW II, Volume 2
1 CD (18 tracks)
Though there a few factual errors about the early songs and the film clips are often not complete, this is still a very entertaining and enjoyable look
at American songs from the past,
from "Yankee Doodle" to "Jailhouse Rock":
The Great American Songbook
Hosted by Michael Feinstein
Click here to buy your music and other favorite posters!
2008 marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of Frank Sinatra.
He was born in Hoboken, New Jersey on 12 December 1915,
and he died in California on 14 May 1998.There are many tributes being paid this year to the memory and music
of this superb popular singer.One of these is a compilation CD with a Frank Sinatra US postage stamp
and titled:Frank Sinatra belongs in that small select group of song stylists,
such as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald,
and most of all his mentor, Bing Crosby.Contrary to what has been written about the swinging Rat Pack years in Las Vegas in the 1960s, it was Sinatra in the 1950s when he made his finest performances and recordings as a singer.
There are literally hundreds of recordings made by Frank Sinatra over his long career from the 1940s onward and many of them are available
in large CD collections, such as the excellent 6 disc set,Sinatra in Hollywood, 1940-1964
But what if you want just a few CDs of Sinatra songs?
Here are several recommended ones to consider.
First there are two compilations:
The Best of Frank Sinatra - The Capitol Years
Selections taken from The Capitol Years box set, including many of Siantra's hits from the 1950s, including the song generally considered his greatest recording,
"I've Got You Under My Skin" (1956).
A marvelous collection of 20 tracks recorded between 1953 and 1960, including "I've Got The World On A String"; "My Funny Valentine"; "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning"; "Witchcraft"; and "Nice N' Easy."
The arrangements are by Nelson Riddle and Billy May.
Here are what many people think are the two greatest Sinatra Capitol albums :
In The Wee Small Hours (1998 remastering)/ In The Wee Small Hours (1991 release)
First released in 1954, this was the first Capitol album with Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle and the first "concept album" with only ballads included.
Released four years after In The Wee Small Hours, this may be the bleakest album of lonely ballads ever released. Though it is filled with what Sinatra called "suicide songs," this is one of the greatest pop albums of the 1950s. Nelson Riddle's arrangements are beyond belief in their clarity and beauty. This album is probably Sinatra's greatest performance as a singer on record.
As much as critics and fans remember the uptempo ring-a-ding songs, just like Elvis,
it was the ballads that best suited Sinatra. He was a supreme master.Both albums ( In The Wee Small Hours and Only the Lonely )
are milestones in pop music history.-- Roger Hall, May 2008
One of his best known recordings was "Love Me Tender."
But did Elvis Presley co-write this song?
To find out read
The Truth Behind "Love Me Tender"
A milestone in his early career was his national television debut on January 28, 1956.
You can read all about it in a story titled:
"Electric Elvis and Bill Randle."
This story is included in a Book on CD-ROM titled,
"Dream World": Songs, Poems and Stories
Also available is another eBook with music files:
"Free As The Breeze" - Confessions of a Struggling Songwriter
Do you have song favorites from the 1950s?
See the lists of 50 song hits at...
"Whatever it was, radio for years and years was the nation's favorite pastime. It's main source of entertainment and information.
It was a total world of sound." -- from radio scriptDo you remember the days of old-time radio, especially the 1930s, '40s and '50s?
Or are you too young to remember but still can enjoy listening
to those entertaining old radio shows?Now you can read about and hear some of the great popular music featured on old-time radio in a informative guide titled:
Remembering Radio: Great Songwriters and Singers
This informative reference guide (in limited supply) includes
Remembering Old-Time Radio
Chronology of Programs and Themes, 1923-1958
Fifty Popular Radio Shows between 1928 and 1958
Radio Script: Do You Remember Radio?
Lists of Radio Programs
Bibliography
Listening SelectionsOn the accompanying CDR
(available at no additional charge and for non-commercial use only)
are excerpts from radio shows featuring five of
the greatest American popular songwriters:
-
George Gershwin (on Fleischmann Hour with Rudy Vallee, 1932)
-
Harold Arlen (with Leo Reisman's Orchestra, 1933)
-
Cole Porter (singing and playing one of his songs,1934)
-
Irving Berlin (singing "God Bless America," 1940)
-
Jerome Kern (playing one of his best known songs, 1940)
Other singers and musicians on the CDR include:
- Ethel Merman singing "I Get A Kick Out Of You" in 1934
- Kate Smith singing "God Bless America"
- Tony Martin and Frank Sinatra both singing "All The Things You Are" in 1940s
- Freddy Martin and His Orchestra playing "Tonight We Love"
- Bing Crosby singing "I Got The Sun In The Morning" in 1946
- The Moonglows and The McGuire Sisters in 1955
To order the radio guide and accompanying CDR, go to the
For additional information, click on this link for
Name Those Tunes!
Take part in this year's annual event
and
select some of your favorite songs.For more information about National Carry A Tune Week 2008, go to
See the tune titles sent in for previous surveys at these links:
Attention writers!
If you would like to submit an article on some topic about
songwriters or songs from the past (up to 1961),
click on this link:
American Music Preservation links
Popular songs and songwriters links
Help support the mission of
American Musc Preservation.com
Use this Search for your purchases...
100 Essential Songs (1861-1961)
Top 100 Songs of the 20th Century
National Carry A Tune Week 2007
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