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List Price: $23.00Amazon.com's Price: $15.64 You Save: $7.36 (32%)as of 12/24/2009 02:04 EST
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42164089924073
EAN: 9780805242508
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0805242503
Label: Schocken
Manufacturer: Schocken
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: October 06, 2009
Publisher: Schocken
Release Date: October 06, 2009
Studio: Schocken
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In A Fine Romance, David Lehman looks at the formation of the American songbook--the timeless numbers that became jazz standards, iconic love songs, and sound tracks to famous movies--and explores the extraordinary fact that this songbook was written almost exclusively by Jews.
An acclaimed poet, editor, and cultural critic, David Lehman hears America singing--with a Yiddish accent. He guides us through America in the golden age of song, when “Embraceable You,” “White Christmas,” “Easter Parade,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” “My Romance,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Stormy Weather,” and countless others became nothing less than the American sound track. The stories behind these songs, the shows from which many of them came, and the shows from which many of them came, and the composers and lyricists who wrote them give voice to a specifically American saga of love, longing, assimilation, and transformation.
Lehman’s analytical skills, wit, and exuberance infuse this book with an energy and a tone like no other: at once sharply observant, personally searching, and attuned to the songs that all of us love. He helps us understand how natural it should be that Wizard of Oz composer Harold Arlen was the son of a cantor who incorporated “Over the Rainbow” into his Sabbath liturgy, and why Cole Porter--the rare non-Jew in this pantheon of musicians who wrote these classic songs shaped America even as America was shaping them.
Average Rating: 
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Oh my gosh, this is a good book....no, actually, its a GREAT book.
If you love American standards, the "Great American Songbook", show tunes,
old radio tunes, old movie musicals , then you're gonna love this book.
Incredibly well researched.
Easy to read - and fun - songs keep running through your mind.
As you read, you can hear Ella Fitzgerald, or Frank Sinatra or Fred Astaire
(who sang so many standards in his movies).
Highly, highly recommended.
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Remarkably, since the first half of the twentieth century, during the golden age of song writing, most of America's best songs - heard on the radio, on records, TV, movies and on the stage, and sung on the streets, at work and at home - were written by Jews. These include the Christian songs "White Christmas" and "Easter Parade," jazz "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," and the classics "God Bless America," "Embraceable You," "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered," and many more.
People will ... Read More
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This book is not an academic or scholarly analysis of the Jewish contribution to American popular song. Rather it is American poet David Lehman's personal `riff' on the subject. From Irving Berlin's 'Alexander's Rag- Time Band' in 1911 to Lenny Bernstein's `West Side Story' he tells the story of the Jewish contribution to American song in his own way, anecdotally and personally. Having grown up in a shul in which two of the greats Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg were members, he regales us with story ... Read More
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I know: It was Cole Porter, the gay WASP millionaire from Indiana, who wrote "You're the Top," but few titles can convey better the appeal of David Lehman's splendid book about the Jewish composers and lyricists who virtually invented the Great American Songbook. In a work that is scholarly but never heavy, that wears its learning lightly and is beautifully written, Lehman tells us exactly what these composers (Arlen, Berlin, Gershwin, Rodgers and others) and poets did, and how they did it. It's a delicious ... Read More
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In this very well-written, humorous, and affectionate homage to the American Songbook, David Lehman hears the Jewish sounds in much of America's greatest popular music. All the great characters are here--Kern, the Gershwins, Berlin, Arlen, and so many others. I found the story of Larry Hart to be especially moving. Lehman seeks their appeal by examining the story of his own interest in the music, bringing us along by using enthusiasm and knowledge. I knew the book was so good because at the end I wanted to go ... Read More
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Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42164089924073
EAN: 9780805242508
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0805242503
Label: Schocken
Manufacturer: Schocken
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: October 06, 2009
Publisher: Schocken
Release Date: October 06, 2009
Studio: Schocken