The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty

by Wilfrid Sheed

Book Overview

From Irving Berlin to Cy Coleman, from "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to "Big Spender," from Tin Pan Alley to the MGM soundstages, the Golden Age of the American song embodied all that was cool, sexy, and sophisticated in popular culture. For four glittering decades, geniuses like Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Harold Arlen ran their fingers over piano keys, enticing unforgettable melodies out of thin air. Critically acclaimed writer Wilfrid...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812970187
• ISBN13: 9780812970180
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

All songwriters should read this book.

All songwriters, amateurs or professionals, should read this book. General information about the songwriting world is covered and the lives of eight composers in particular are thoroughly covered, from the well known George Gershwin and Duke Ellington to the lesser known Harry Warren to whom he dedicates the book. Mention is given to women who made their mark in this almost all male profession, Dorothy Fields, Maria Grever, Kay Swift, Mabel Wayne. The love of music and the love of melody and lyric writing is contrasted with the difficulties and sometimes meanness of the business. Egos rise and fall. Trends in society create trends in music. The book is enlightening and enjoyable.

He knows the score (but that's not quite enough any more).

Sheed is a witty, but not self-indulgently or distractingly so, prose "stylist," not a musician. In that capacity he's "like" a jazz musician riffing on a familiar theme (it's tough to come up with new material about the Great American Songbook and its composers) and of particular use to those readers who love the music and wish to express what it means to them as much as it expresses its meanings to them. Sheed is such a reader's "voice," and probably a more welcome one than that of the historians, musicologists, composers and lyricists. I don't think he's disparaging the musicians by showing us their flaws and vices. A Charlie Parker or Miles Davis is certainly no less an artist to me because of his drug habit or even, as in the case of Bird, his selfish, childish, and exploitive ways. If anything, the unpleasant behaviorisms of artists ranging from Buddy Rich to William Faulkner make it easier to relate to them as well as to sustain interest. If they were any better as human beings, their overwhelming talent and, even genius, would simply be too much to bear. Sheed also knows that while it's misguided to judge a book by its cover, in the case of the creative artist the book would no doubt be entirely different, most likely inferior, were the cover not what it is. As for the melody vs. lyric flap, he's right. The most recorded popular song in American music history--"Body and Soul"--has an embarassingly bad lyric ("My love a wreck you're making, My heart is yours for the taking"--"ouch!" many times over). What counts most in the language of music is the notes, not the words. A song has to be able to stand on its own, apart from the lyrics (and John Coltrane certainly felt that Rodgers' music for Hammerstein did just that). Since the '60s we've been inundated by little more than bad recitative (ask any bar pianist or Saturday night saxophone player). On the other hand, great lyrics can 1. make a great melody an even richer experience; 2. help "shape" an infectious melody (for example, Porter's repetition of melodic motifs to fit the theme of "obsession" in countless numbers of his tunes); 3. bring to the melody the attention that it deserves if not requires to become a "standard." "Body and Soul" got lucky--a great melody and set of chord changes performed by an artist (Coleman Hawkins) whom every great player wanted to emulate. All of the composers Sheed chooses to discuss are deserving, though it would be nice to have fuller consideration of Van Heusen, Styne, McHugh, Victor Young ("When I Fall in Love," "My Foolish Heart," "Stella by Starlight), and greater focus on isolated sublime melodies that have become jazz standards (e.g. Bronislaw Kaper's "On Green Dolphin Street"). If I had to limit myself to a single comprehensive yet surprisingly detailed book on great American popular music and its composers (their styles between the bars of the staff paper as well as in assorted bars about town), it would have to be Gerald Mast's

Best Gershwin Book Ever

Really well written! Great overview not only of Gershwin, yet giving credit to contempories that have not gotten the same press/recognition on their contributions to the great standards that we all enjoy today. Kudos to the author! Keep this book within arms reach so as to be able to refer to it again and again. Respectfully John Akouris

Wonderful Book

I really enjoyed this book by Wilfrid Sheed. The book capture's composers from the 1920 to 1950 era. Easy to read and follow, Sheed shows his vast knowledge and information about American popular song. He writes in a style that is easy to follow and I espcially liked his compositions on George Gershwin and Irving Berlin. Sheed seems to love Music and covers about 50 composers including Kern, Berlin, Gershwin, Cole Porter but also about fifty others. He sems to especially like Harry Warren to whom he dedicates the book. It is a wonderful summer read and you will gain new insight to some of the great early composers in American culture. I recommend.

A song in his heart

This is a book about the composers of America's most popular popular music, the music that came into being from roughly 1920 to 1950. It is not a formal treatise or scholarly study but rather a kind of fan's notes ramble, an enthusiastic exuberant high- spirited riff. English- born novelist, essayist Sheed shows great love for , and tremendous knowledge of American popular song. He writes with worshipful insight of the two greatest of the founding fathers of this particular American genre, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin. Both of these children of Russian Jewish parents found in black Blues and American jazz a fundamental inspiration. Both inspired many others and Gershwin particularly was a magnanimous helpful friend to other composers. Sheed cares for the Music above all and gives preeminence to those who create it - the lyrics are significant but secondary. Sheed writes not only about the major figures, Kern, Berlin, Gershwin, Cole Porter but also about fifty others. One special one for him is someone he knew personally , Harry Warren. Warren the composer of "I only have eyes for you' was a modest figure in the background but for Sheed a friend and great composer to whom he dedicates the book. All the readers of this book I know of have spoken of what great pleasure they had in reading it. The songs of these great composers entered Sheed's heart and his writing is his song of appreciation back to them.