MPR’s Paula Schroeder interviews Philp Furia, University of Minnesota professor of English, about his book “The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America's Great Lyricists."

The book looks at lyricists Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern. Furia alos discusses the importance of Gus Kahn, Mitchell Parish and Dorothy Fields.

Segment includes mucial excerpts.

Transcript:

(00:00:06) On world AIDS day. The biggest event to occur was an international concert devoted to the music of Cole Porter. It's just one indication of how influential the music and lyrics of Porter and his contemporaries have been on popular culture Phil Furia a University of Minnesota professor of English who's devoted his professional life to the study of the lyrics of Cole Porter Irving Berlin, Ira Gershwin and many others has written In a book called The Poets of Tin Pan Alley. It's the first comprehensive work ever published on these Giants of the music industry.
(00:00:37) A lot of them people have never heard of even though they know their songs. Everybody knows the song it had to be you but who's heard of Gus Kahn or everyone knows Stardust but who's heard of Mitchell Parish at those are the people who put the words to those those famous
(00:00:52) songs one woman 2. I understand
(00:00:54) Dorothy Fields who wrote the songs in the 20s like wrote the lyrics to on this on. My side of the street I can't give you anything but love and then a 1930s. She worked with Jerome Kern and I think she probably put Better lyrics to Kearns Melodies than any of his other Lyricist area. Yeah. She did things like A Fine Romance my dear this is
(00:01:18) romantic with me. Romance, my friend. This is how we should be like the couple of hot Tomatoes what you're as cold as yesterday smashed.
(00:01:48) The songs from this era have become part of the fabric of the American culture passed down from generation to generation of performers because as Furia their lyrical challenging and sophisticated that's helped shape Americans perception of what romance should be
(00:02:03) what I like so much about them is that they so often set a standard that's not sentimental. That's kind of flippant. I'm even unromantic. We're talking a bit before about the song it had to be you and instead of being kind of mushy. The mantle he says some others I've seen might never be mean might never be Cross or try to be boss, but they wouldn't do with all your faults. I love you still it had to be
(00:02:27) you. It had to be you I wandered around and finally found the somebody who could make me be true. Good make me be blue or even be glad just to be sad thinking of you
(00:02:56) Fury a calls the image established by the Tin Pan Alley lyricists one of casual sophistication exemplified. So well by Fred Astaire and Cary Grant so they were movie Idols the music got it start on Broadway. In
(00:03:09) fact in those days that 1920s and 1930s the book of a Broadway musical wasn't very important. I mean if you even if you look at the book at successful musicals, like anything goes it's just silly characters absurd plots and very often The Lyricist had nothing to do with the book nowadays. When you look at a Broadway show its book and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, but in those days the book was considered inconsequential fluff and a good show was a show with a lot of songs that It later became popular
(00:03:42) hits when The Lyricist began writing for Hollywood movie musicals the same pattern continued producing a uniform kind of song today very few musicals produce popular songs largely due to the fragmenting of the music industry and while most young people today listen to the likes of Madonna and MC Hammer Furia has found in his college classes on the American popular song that Porter and Berlin at all continue their
(00:04:06) charm. They have had great difficulty controlling their environment. You see as mm. They have fallen in love with this material and it's very hard for them to be to be analytical and critical about it. They have just been so taken with with these great things
(00:04:22) feel Furious book The Poets of Tin Pan. Alley is published by Oxford University press