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New York: Songs of the City [Hardcover]

Nancy J. Groce (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)


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Book Description

May 1, 1999
No American city has inspired more music than the Big Apple. For more than 250 years, composers have sought to capture the sounds, energy, and sophistication of New York life in song. New York: Songs of the City introduces readers to the best-loved songs and most evocative music written about America's premier city. It also explores the significant role music, musicians, and musical life played in shaping and defining how the world imagines life in "The City That Never Sleeps."

The lushly illustrated book features the lyrics from many of the more than 1,000 songs that have been written about New York City. Short samples of music are matched with period photographs of the evolving city and New York-related illustrations taken from sheet music covers and record album jackets. Drawing on years of research, the author serves as an engaging, informative, and highly readable guide for this urban musical tour.


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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The Big Apple deserves exploration "through the poetry of its music" because, Groce says, "no [other] American city has inspired more music." Well, New Orleans might seriously challenge New York in songs per capita, but her point is well taken, considering the roster of music notables who have referenced the big burg, from George M. Cohan to Cole Porter to Billy Joel. Stars aside, Groce emphasizes the songs in such chapters as "Mass Transit in Song" and "Celebrating Broadway," which delightfully detail the tuneful specifics of life in the boroughs. In "New Yorkers in Love" --which doesn't have to be a frightening concept--she recalls such favorites as "Manhattan Serenade" and "She's Got a Great Big Army of Friends Since She Lives Near the Navy Yard." In "Crime and Punishment," she cites "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," among others. Many beautiful sheet-music covers colorfully illustrate this playful and--with such sidebar fare as a summary of "Brooklyn's Biggest Sex Scandal," involving that nineteenth-century Swaggart, Henry Ward Beecher--informative book. Mike Tribby

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications (May 1, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0823083497
  • ISBN-13: 978-0823083497
  • Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,595,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Top of the heap! A-number one! Now where's the CD?, November 26, 1999
By 
This review is from: New York: Songs of the City (Hardcover)
Nancy did a wonderful job on this! (Caution--some of my research is mentioned in this book.) I've personally listened to hundreds of obscure but very worthwhile NYC songs. My only quibble is this: where's the CD, so people (unlike us, who don't have constant access to the NYPL's Rodgers & Hammerstein Archive of Recorded Sound) can listen to some of these obscure classics? It's really too bad that Groce didn't consult for Ric Burns' documentary on NEW YORK (which has a weak CD that doesn't include even the George M. Cohan and Frank Sinatra standards). C'mon, Nancy, give us the music! "It's up to you..."
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute delight, July 12, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: New York: Songs of the City (Hardcover)
Anyone interested in the pasts of music, New York or theater should grab this book. Funny, well-written and meticulously researched, it is also chockful of great sheet music covers from the early 19th to late 20th centuries. Grab this one!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific as story, history, picture coffee table book., February 1, 2010
By 
NY fan (san francisco ca) - See all my reviews
I gave copies to friends, family, and ex New Yorkers as xmas presents and they all seemed to share my enthusiasm for this find. No travel guide I've come across works this well to get the reader into the history of New York as told through its music, to make the city come alive in its past and present. So much fun to read and look at, well written and colorful!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
New York City has always been a unique place. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Brooklyn Bridge, Fifth Avenue, Coney Island, Central Park, Greenwich Village, Staten Island, Park Avenue, Washington Square, Lower East Side, Irving Berlin, Union Square, City Hall, Madison Square, Times Square, East River, West End Avenue, Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin, World War, Coney Isle, Edward Harrigan, Prospect Park, Puerto Rican, World's Fair
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