Some of the most important and influential American popular songs from the early 20th century are in what's called 'The Great American Songbook'.
Photo: Wikipedia
But it’s not an actual book, says ethnomusicologist Kirsten Zemke, more of a loosely agreed upon collection of songs from the 1910s to the1950s that were popular.
“Back then, music circulated more songs, it was sheet music and you didn’t mind hearing all your favourite singers all singing the same song," she tells Kathryn Ryan.
They have a lasting legacy for generations, she says, with more recent singers bringing them to the forefront again with covers from the likes of Elvis, Michael Bublé, and Bob Dylan.
“And they’re still being revived.
“If you know the song it’s almost more a pleasure to then hear it sung by a different artist and then you get to hear their spin on it. I think now people think you have to write your own songs but back then you had top song writers and top vocalists and you put those two masters together.”
Because they lasted for decades, there’s nostalgia and longing in them, she says.
“So I guess now when we hear that I’m imagining people who are working from home maybe dancing with their lampshade or pet, but they have this sense of loss … there’s just something universal about that.”
Romantic music was an escape for people experiencing hardships in those times, she says.
“I mean there was two world wars during this time, the Great Depression, you also get that 1950s iconic nuclear family situation and people like this real sentimentality from their popular music.”
Billie Holiday - I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (1936)
Billie Holiday is also known for writing I’m In The Mood For Love, recording songs for Louis Armstrong, Marlene Dietrich and Bing Crosby, she says.
“Just because this isn’t rock ‘n’ roll, there’s still a lot of drama and charisma, and interest in these artists and songs.”
Ella Fitzgerald – Cry Me A River (1938)
Mel Tormé – Blue Moon – (1949)
Lady Gaga ft. Tony Bennett – Nature Boy (originally sung by Nat King Cole in 1948)
*Kirsten Zemke is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Auckland's School of Social Sciences.
