American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 [Hardcover]

Alec Wilder (Author), James T. Maher (Editor), Gene Lees (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 1990

When Alec Wilder's American Popular Song first appeared, it was almost universally hailed--from The New York Times to The New Yorker to Down Beat--as the definitive account of the classic era of American popular music. It has since become the standard work of the great songwriters who dominated popular music in the United States for half a century. Now Wilder's classic is available again, with a new introduction by Gene Lees.
Uniquely analytical yet engagingly informal, American Popular Song focuses on the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic qualities that distinguish American popular music and have made it an authentic art form. Wilder traces the roots of the American style to the ragtime music of the 1890s, shows how it was incorporated into mainstream popular music after 1900, and then surveys the careers of every major songwriter from World War I to 1950. Wilder devotes desparate chapters to such greats as Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, and Harold Arlen. Illustrated with over seven hundred musical examples, Wilder's sensitive analyses of the most distinctive, creative, and original songs of this period reveal unexpected beauties in songs long forgotten and delightful subtleties in many familiar standards. The result is a definitive treatment of a strangely unsung and uniquely American art.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Remains today the best single examination of its subject."--The Washington Post Book World

"Provocative, informative, opinionated, and never dull" --Down Beat

"Wonderful" --The New York Times

"A joy to anyone who really cares about American popular music....An invaluable reference" --Max Morath

"A rewarding book, endowed with grace and wit" --Milton Babbitt

"Invaluable and pioneering" --Whitney Balliett, The New Yorker

"A singular book" --Studs Terkel

About the Author

Alec Wilder was the composer of such famous songs as "I'll Be Around," "It's So Peaceful in the Country," and "While We're Young," as well as theater and film scores and chamber music for every instrument in the orchestra.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1st edition, 2nd printing edition (April 27, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195014456
• ISBN-13: 978-0195014457
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #617,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2* Excellent Ref. Book for the Musically Inclined, December 4, 2002

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 (Hardcover)

Yes, the man is opinionated, and one may argue with some of his more controversial and unsparing critiques. His analyses are grounded in a thorough understanding of music, and he does not retreat from criticizing the most popular. I think that the whole topic is perhaps more subjective than Wilder lets on, but at least he's forthright about his opinions, and provides hundreds of musical annotations to illustrate his views. I'll also agree with the reviewer who criticizes Wilder's view that post-50's popular music was written by "amateurs." Still, this is widely regarded as a must-have for the student of popular music, and it's an excellent, albeit somewhat technical critique of popular music's "golden age." Recommended!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FOR THOSE WHO LOVE AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC, August 5, 2001

By 

ALAIN ROBERT (ST-HUBERT,QUÉBEC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 (Hardcover)

ALEC WILDER himself a composer has written what is generally considered the bible of AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC.More than thirty years have gone by since the first édition of this book and it remains fresh.Like many i am proud to say that this book was really for me what i needed to start digging into the history of many songs before the rock era.From BERLIN and KERN to the often forgotten greats like DONALDSON and McHUGH they are all there and mister WILDER knows what he is talking about;he had talked to many writers and composers who were at the time of the first édition still with us.Personal opinions are of course a matter of taste;we are for example not obliged to believe everything he says.Most of the time mister WILDER is right:EXAMPLE:he believes that RICHARD RODGERS was perhaps the most gifted composer of his time.Few can really disagree with that.In fact,there is only one major problem with this book,if you don't read music it won't be too enjoyable for you,because there are many examples with sheet music to proves the points he wants to make.Everyone who has an interest in the history of AMERICAN popular music should buy that book.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars proves that the worthiest critic is the practitioner, August 31, 2001

By 

joel fass (bronx,, n.y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 (Paperback)

Lord knows there is a place for criticism in music. The problem is that too often the most ill-qualified, wrongest people practice it, and are rewarded with the bully pulpit of widely read publication and nice paychecks to boot. Alec Wilder is a "right" person, if ever there was one. He's no outsider or "wannabe". His insights on the procedures and content on the songwriting of his brethren come from his own long, hard struggle with the form. And he did it VERY well, giving his observations yet more credence. He has the courage of his convictions, putting a hard critical ear to the work of his peers, betters, "worsers"---whoever, while owning up to his prejudices and acknowledging that it is, after all, only his opinion. I'm glad he covered the people he did, and only disappointed and perplexed that he passed on Strayhorn (I suppose because his work was outside the theater/movie/pop song orbit of the others). I would have appreciated his insights. Such skill, courage, and honesty in criticism is at the very least a breath of fresh air.

Neither music lovers, nor especially fellow composers should take Wilder's words as the gospel, though, as I feel he'd be the first to implore. It's hard enough to compose and ignore the criticism in one's one head, let alone hear the muse over the strains of a duet. Another thing to consider in placing importance on even as eloquent and well-formed criticisms as these is Wilder's harrowing self-doubt about his OWN composing, and general worth (which comes through loud and clear in his autobiographical "Letters I Never Sent") And listeners should follow their own ears and hearts. Take Wilder's survey for what it is, very high quality opinion.

As for MY opinion, the only thing that leaves a bad taste in this and similar books (Copland's survey 20th century composers, for a much more egregious example) is a certain elitism cutting through that, at its worst, is downright snotty. According to the preface (by Gene Lees, a talented man and friend of good music, but himself no stranger to the banshee wail of the conservatively cranky)Wilder stated that "after 1955, the amateurs took over". I can understand the horror Wilder and other gifted musicians, weaned on European and even jazz traditions, felt when rock's arrival landed a knockout blow to their careers and values. But it wasn't and isn't all garbage---the best of it is as valid as anything. Perhaps its greatest virtue is that it doesn't take itself that seriously as "art". If nothing else, it loosened us all up a bit. Wilder's cynicism, however justified in his mind, peeks through these pages a bit, although not so much as to be harmful. It's just frustrating and a bit of a bore. I so want to believe that so rare a musical wit felt affection, not disdain toward the the race he wrote about and for. So with these things in mind, enjoy and learn as I have from a very valuable piece of writing.