How potent cheap music is.
–Noel Coward

I believe that Will Friedwald included the Noel Coward line about the potency of cheap music in the introduction to his Stardust Melodies simply to see those two words – potent and music – in the same sentence. There is nothing “cheap” about the popular songs featured in his book, but they are all undeniably “potent.” The power of popular music, according to Friedwald, is its ability to “move us on a deep level, and in a way that few othe More...

This is not a bad book but it is very technical and probably suitable for musicians and not the average layman. It would have been much more interesting had it been accompanied by music CDs, with samples of some of the versions the author was excited about.

Friedwald writes the biographies of 12 popular songs (popular from the 1910s-30s). If you like Tin Pan Alley and musicals, you will probably like this. Each chapter is devoted to a single song, explains how it came to be written and discusses significant as well as unusual recordings and performances of the song. Each chapter also includes images of the original sheet music cover art. Freidwald has a real talent for writing about music, and you might recognize him since he's written a ton of lin More...

"biographies"--stories of the composition and recording histories--of 12 American pop songs, from "St. Louis Blues" to "Night and Day" to "Lush Life." At its best, a 5-star performance, but unfortunately uneven from song to song.

The stories behind the composition and most memorable performances of American song, especially those originating in Broadway shows.