Customer Reviews

Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs

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What a wonderful book! This is a book I wish I had written, if only to write the sentence "Seeing Guys and Dolls on opening night in 1950 was my nirvana as a musical comedy fan"! It's one long love letter to the great American songwriters, both composers and lyricists: the oft-written about Kern, Hammerstein, Berlin, the Gershwins, Porter, Arlen, Sondheim, Lerner, Loewe, Ellington, Rodgers and Hart, and the less-written about Dorothy Fields, Harburg, Youmans, Schwartz, Dietz, Warren, Weill, Styne, Comden/Green, Loesser, Cahn, Van Heusen, Kander, Ebb, Bock & Harnick. Though Zinsser is a pianist himself, he keeps the technical discussion to a minimum. He's dug up photographs I've never seen before: Frank Loesser sweating on a New York park bench; Barbra sitting on Jule Styne's lap; Johnny Mercer recording (I didn't know he was popular singer as well as gifted lyricist.) And the sheet music! He's included b&w pictures of dozens of vintage sheet music cover art: the Art Deco "Roberta"; "Just in Time" with '50's linear design motifs; a Toulouse-Lautrec knockoff for a '20's Rodgers and Hart song. Zinsser very interestingly keeps the biographical info to a bare minimum, concentrating on the melodic structure of the tune, the "rules" of song structure and how the rules were effectively broken; and the lyrics which are central to his appreciation of a song. He has lovingly captured an era I was born too late for but which lives on.

What enjoyment I find in this book!! It tells me all about the lives of the greatest songwriters the world has ever known...where they grew up, how they got into songwriting, what they wrote, who they wrote with, the movies and shows they did, and so much more. The era described extends from 1927 to the mid-sixties when rock arrived. During that period the greatest American songs were written. It is doubtful that the world will ever know another such a wonderful period or such songwriters. This is a book to treasure; to be read and reread if you remember the classic songs of that era.

William Zinsser has had a lifelong love affair with the music of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and Hollywood. This book reflects that love. Rather than a scholarly treatise, what Zinsser creates is a casual but quite complete stroll through the catalogue of the Great American Songbook using the great lyricists and composers as jumping off points. Occasional sidebars on such related topics as the structure of the classic song or the importance of sheet music add to the enjoyment and the wide scope of Zinsser's historical approach. Filled with wonderful photos of composers, lyricists and sheet music, this book is a treasure to read through and look at

A wonderful, kind book

William Zinsser's survey of the American popular song is an exceptional work, it revists and evokes the lost world of the popular song - when songs bridged generations and spoke of love and loss with grace, joy, sorrow, and occassionally, grandeur.

Not only does Zinsser give us the lives of the composers and lyricists examined, but he places their work in the context of its time, and for those who lived through the great age of American songwriting, he recreates the meaning of that music to Americans, and for those unlucky enough to be born later, he offers a guide to its many delights and pleasures. A winner of a book on every level. A must read for anyone who loves American popular music pre 1960.

This book is an eccentric, highly personal appreciation of "The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs." It is an easy read, as it is composed of short chapters with titles such as "George and Ira Gershwin," "Anatomy of the Popular Song," "Sheet Music, "Writing for Fred Astaire," and "Made in Hollywood: `As Time Goes By' and `Laura'." I found it extremely informative and charmingly written. The lists at the back are fun and provocative. Zinsser provides extensive (and entertaining) notes on his sources as well as a thorough index. This is a very subjective book with a highly personal viewpoint, but I would nonetheless recommend it to anyone with an interest in American popular song. I enjoyed this book a lot.

I CAN'T RECALL WHEN I HAVE ENJOYED A BOOK AS MUCH AS THIS ONE. IT SPEAKS TO A SUBJECT AND TO A PERIOD THAT ARE DEAR TO MY HEART - MY YOUTH AND THE MUSIC THAT FILLED IT. ZINSSER'S COMMAND OF LANGUAGE IS EQUAL TO HIS COMMAND OF THE SUBJECT MATTER, AND HIS OBVIOUS APPRECIATION OF THE SUBJECT JUMPS OFF THE PAGE TO TAKE YOU BACK TO A WONDERFUL PERIOD WHEN GERSHWIN, PORTER, KERN, BERLIN, YOUMANS, AND A HOST OF OTHERS FILLED THE AIR WITH WARMTH, MERRIMENT, AND A DELICIOUS REMINDER OF HOW MUCH FUN IT WAS TO BE ALIVE AND TO BE YOUNG WHEN THESE GUYS WERE BUSY BUILDING AN INDELIBLE MONUMENT TO MUSIC, MOVIES, AND THEATRE - WHEN NEW YORK WAS THE PLACE TO BE, AND WHEN NUANCE AND SUBTLETY STILL LEFT PLENTY OF ROOM TO CALL UPON YOUR IMAGINATION AND TO FANTASIZE ABOUT THE THINGS THAT MAKE LIFE WONDERFUL AND SO WORTH LIVING - JOY, PATHOS, AND LOVE. I AM INDEBTED TO MR. ZINSSER FOR USING HIS CRAFT TO MAKE THESE THINGS COME ALIVE AGAIN
KEN ELIASBERG

In any rambling conversation regarding music, I instinctively comment on William Zinsser's book, Easy to Remember. It is a historic monument to nostalgia happily implanted in the memory bank of all who lived through the 20s -- 60s.
The knowledge and affection needed to compile this landmark, places it in a unique position for reference and research, as well as an easy decision on what to purchase for a like-minded friend. David komarnicki

This book was a pleasure to read. It is not an in depth treatment of the composers and song writers; but more of an opportunity to get acquainted with them. I liked the generally chronological organization of the book which supports the author's conclusion to his thesis which he states extremely well on the last two pages of the book.

As a fan of great American songwriters, I really enjoyed this book. It's wonderful to have it in my collection.

Bill Zinsser and I are separated by a generation. He talks of coming of age in the 1930s when every home still had a piano and someone who could play it and people gathered round for a group or family singalong. I came of age in the 50s, turning twelve when Elvis first burst upon the music scene changing it forever, and later on the Beatles turned the music world on its head yet again. What's the common denominator? Great music. Because I know most of the songs cited by Zinsser in EASY TO REMEMBER. Some may have been around longer than I've been alive, but I know the tunes. That's because they have become American standards, and the singers and musicians I listened to from the 50s on were still singing many of those songs. Think of Brenda Lee singing "Teach Me Tonight," or the Beatles singing "'Til There Was You," Ricky Nelson doing "My Old Flame," or The Lettermen's timeless rendition of "The Way You Look Tonight." And of course just about everyone has done "Summertime" at one time or another. Bobby Darin from my era did a nightclub act that included countless standards covered here by Zinsser. And of course Sinatra was still around when I was young too. I 'discovered' him and his repertoire of all these standards when I was just 20, and have been a fan ever since.

You don't have to be Zinsser's age to appreciate this book. You just have to be a fan of great music - the kind that lasts and lasts. EASY TO REMEMBER is so obviously a labor of love for Zinsser, and all the sheet music covers and photos from those years - the 20s through the 60s - are value-added.

I won't say I loved this book quite as much as I did Zinsser's most recent memoir, WRITING PLACES, but I did enjoy the hell out of it. It took me back. If you love great music, particularly American standards and show music, you'll wanna read this book. And then get out some of those old records and listen again. Thanks, Bill. - Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir BOOKLOVER