Sentimental Journey: Intimate Portraits of America's Great Popular Songs, 1920-1945

Sentimental Journey is a cornucopia of 546 rang portraits that tell the story of America's very own great music, from its beginnings on Tin Pan Alley through its flourishing in step with the rise of the Broadway musical, radio, recordings, the big bands, and the film musical. The book spans 25 years, broken up into three decades entitled The Roaring Twenties, The Depression Years, and The War Years, each of which begins with a prologue giving a general description of the decade. Each year within the decades gives further historical background against which the individual songs were written -- including the political, social and artistic events. Within each year thc songs are portrayed individually, telling what made the song special and gives its vital statistics along with composer, lyricist, publisher, and when, where and by whom it was introduced.The twenty-six chapters of Sentimental Journey is finalized with a set of Appendices containing glossary, bibliography, index of composers and lyricists and an index of songs. No matter from what generation the reader is part of, the music from this book is being constantly rediscovered, and has become part of the American heritage.