Unit 6: Emergence of Modern United States, 1900-1929
UNITED DIVIDED
“The Alcoholic Blues”
“The Woman's Doxology”
“The Argentines, the Portuguese, and the Greeks”
Arthur M. Swanstrom and Carey Morgan, 1920
A humorous song of envy and begrudging admiration for the new wave of immigrants.
Lyrics | Recording
“(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue”
Fats Waller, Andy Razaf, Harry Brooks, 1929
A jazz expression of what it was like to be African American in 1920s America
Lyric source | Recording
“El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez”
Anonymous, c. 1910
The most famous Texas Mexican outlaw ballad.
Lyric source | Recording
“The Japanese Sandman”
“So Long! Oo-Long (How Long You Gonna Be Gone?)”
“I'm an Indian”
“All Coons Look Alike to Me”
“Follow the Drinkin' Gourd”
Unknown, 1929
A spiritual about the slaves’ desire to move north and escape captivity.
Lyrics
WAR AND PEACE
“Over There”
George M. Cohan, 1917
The song most associated with World War I.
Lyric source | Recording
“I Didn’t Raise my Boy to be a Soldier”
Al Piantadosi, Alfred Bryan, c. 1917
Anti-war song from a mother and father’s perspective.
Lyric Source | Recording
WORK
“Solidarity Forever”
Ralph Chaplin, 1915
A popular labor union song sung to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
Lyric source | Recording
HOME
“Hello Ma Baby”
Ida Emerson, Joseph E. Howard, c. 1905
A popular Tin Pan Alley hit reveals how the telephone was becoming a part of everyday life.
Lyric source | Recording
“How You Gonna Keep Him Down on the Farm”
Walter Donaldson, Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young, c. 1920
A show tune illustrates rural to urban migration after World War I.
Lyric source | Recording
“Ain’t We Got Fun”
Words Gus Kahn & Raymond B. Egan, music Richard Whiting, 1921
Popular song celebrates social and economic changes in the home during the Roaring ‘20s.
Lyric source | Recording
“St. Louis Blues”
“Down in Poverty Row”
“Ching-a-Ling's Jazz Bazaar”
“Chinatown, My Chinatown”
MOVING ALONG
“Henry’s Made a Lady out of Lizzie”
Walter O’Keefe, 1928
A Tin Pan Alley song sings the praises and pitfalls of the Model T, replaced by the Model A
Lyric source | Recording
“Lindbergh, The Eagle of the U.S.A.”
Howard Johnson and Al Sherman, 1927
Ten years after the Wright Brothers’ flight, airplanes became an object of romantic fantasy
Lyric source | Recording
“He Lies in the American Land”
Andrew Kovaly, 1900
A Slovakian immigrant sings to the newly arrived family of a co-worker killed in the mill
Lyrics | Recording
“Cancion mixteca”
FAITH AND IDEALS
“Lift Every Voice and Sing”
James Weldon Johnson, J. Rosamond Johnson, 1900
The song that became known as the “Negro National Anthem.”
Lyric source | Recording
"I'll Overcome Some Day"
“We’ll Understand it Better By and By”
Albert Tindley, 1905
A black gospel hymn that was readily adopted at white camp meeting revivals.
Lyric source | Recording
“You’re a Grand Old Rag”
George M. Cohan, 1906
Patriotic show tune by the master “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
Lyric source | Recording
“Can the Circle Be Unbroken”
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