Kindle Notes & Highlights
make the point as strong as possible." Numerous Berlin hits would illustrate the wisdom of this last directive, if not the others.
established the song's premise and gave the performer a chance to slip into character for the more lyrical and
It was this latter form-simple, symmetrical, and inevitable-that served as the model for popular songs at the time Berlin entered the field. And it remained the standard until Berlin smashed the mold with his ground-breaking
Then they will be forgotten and new ones will take their place. But I cannot think of a song in years that has come to stay." He reminded the reporter that "folks are still singing `Swanee River' and 'My Old Kentucky Home.' It's something to be known like Stephen C. Foster." At the cost of dismissing his current work, Berlin declared ambitions that went beyond the narrow commercial boundaries
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taking seriously and adapting to Tin Pan Alley formulas. However, he lacked sufficient
The best-known ragtime composer, Scott Joplin, of Sedalia, Missouri, had attracted
busker and singing waiter had conditioned him to believe that great songs were made by performers and
