Customer Reviews

Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish: How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood [With CD] (SUNY Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture)

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Don't be mislead by the title of this book. It isn't glib or lightweight--in fact, it's a brilliant analysis of the subconscious effect synagogue music and Yiddish song have had on our most beloved popular music. When I picked it up (out of curiosity) I found myself mesmerized and couldn't stop reading.

The book is peppered with musical examples that continually evoke "I never realized that song was related to that"! Gottlieb must have spent decades researching this and it seems unbelievably thorough. He doesn't stop at musical analysis; he also includes a good examination of the history behind everything, particularly focusing on the heavy periods of emigration, when most of the (now) well-known Jewish composers came to America. The book made me look at some of the best known popular songs in a new light, yielding a deeper understanding of what went into their creation.

It may seem a little expensive, but you also get a CD packed with great rare recordings that have never been released before (try Bernstein performing Blitzstein's classic "Zipperfly" or Jolson singing "Khazn oyf Shabes" in Yiddish).

Gottlieb decides to pay limited attention to some of the living composers who focus on Jewish themes (for example, Jason Robert Brown and Osvaldo Golijov are only mentioned casually) but I suspect he could write another book on them. Let's hope he does--I would line up to get a copy.

If you share my growing concern at the musical cross-over tendencies in synagogue songs and how "un-Jewish" much of today's Jewish music sounds, you'll find a charming antidote in Dr. Jack Gottlieb's new and original coffee table book: Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish. Gottlieb's earnest musical detective comparisons and analyses invite us into joyfully playing the "sounds like" game. After we chuckle in consternation, at the Yiddish or liturgical roots of a pop song's pedigree, we marvel at the truism that there seems to be "nothing new under the sun"; especially under the show biz music lights.

Gottlieb loves to make puns and burst bubbles. This effervescently entertaining study is filled with anecdotes, song sheet covers, musical illustrations, photos of composers and performers, and even an accompanying Audio CD to bring home his astute assertions.

Some of my favorites include: Did you realize that -

George Gershwin's It Ain't Necessarity So is kin to the Torah blessing Barachu Et Adoshem Ham'vorach?

The Torah cantillation for Merchaw R'via inspired both Bach's Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded and Paul Simon's American Tune?

Rozhinkes Mit Mandlin prompted Irving Berlin's Blue Skies.... and my all time favorite

I Am A Gay Caballero, I'm back again from Janeiro is both Y'hei sh'mei rabah m'vorach from the Kaddish and Ashrei yoshvei veitecha od y'hall'lucha selah

Are you curious to follow Gottlieb's unearthing of more of these amusing affinities? There are dozens of other examples, some more apparent than others, but all will cause you to "aha!" pause, smile, and, most importantly, think about what we consider immutable Jewish traditional melodies.

Dr. Gottlieb is an engaging author and lecturer (this book began as a touring presentation with him at the piano). He is a published composer of both secular and synagogue music who most recently was honored by The Milken Archive of American Jewish Music when it distributed a CD of his works on the Naxos label. He is also a meticulous researcher, program notes writer, and former assistant to Leonard Bernstein. In all these endeavors it is quite obvious that he is also a passionate lover of all thing musical and Jewish.

We offer kudos to Dr. Gottlieb for this wonderfully endearing study of Jewish melodic ties to mid 20th century pop music and enthusiastically recommend it as both an urbane entertainment and a carefully documented study. Buy it and enjoy!

Over 30 years ago there was a famous ad campaign for a brand of "Jewish rye bread," showing an American Indian eating a deli sandwich, and the caption read, "You Don't have to be Jewish to Like Levy's Rye Bread."

With regard to this book, this was never so true. Anyone who love the "Great American Song Book" spanning the first half of the last century cannot afford to miss this book.

Especially remarkable is that it IS a scholarly book, complete with footnotes and bibliography, but the tone is also so jocular.

The accompanying CD of musical examples alone is worth the cost of the book.

Do yourself a favor - Order this book, but pass on the Most book offered by Amazon.com in tandem. It is hardly as comprehensive and definitely pales by comparison.

This book is a must read - it was so entertaining and funny, I had pop comming out of my nose laughing! And my friends and I had a great time sitting around the piano playing and singing the composed musice enclosed! We even added a few lyrics of our own to the already hilarious lyrics ;-)
Have Fun!

A superb book - lots of fun - but digestible only in little bites. There is a lot of information in here!