Frank Sinatra demonstrates a strong connection of the Tin Pan Alley era songwriting style to a far more personal and reflective sensibility in his recording of Nancy (with the Laughing Face). At first listen, Sinatra sounds as if he is doting on someone from his private life, but I was interested to read that the tune is written about his daughter, making the song even more poignant. The use of the strings and light winds creates a very serene audio setting, one that could serve as a movie soundtrack for a black and white film. The audio conventions are created with intention for an older audience, even for the time period during which it was recorded. In the post-World War II culture, this song certainly reflects how music is now received in the home, either on records or over the radio airwaves. Choo Choo Ch-Boogie, recorded by Louis Jordan’s Tympany Five, is an excellent example of the Jump blues, the first commercially successful category of rhythm and blues. (Starr and Waterman, p. 221) The subtle train song element played in the drums offers an audio example of the cultural implications of a society which is settled following the war, yet still intrigued by travel. The musical combination of the horns emulating the train horns and the under current in the rhythm section paints a great picture of the parallels of Western expansion, existing train routes, and the development of the Route 66 corridor.
As settled and refined as the Big Singers period sounds in recordings, several other developments broadened the musical options for listeners during the period. “The mambo, the most popular form of Latin dance music in the United States in the years just before the rise of rock ’n’ roll, was a branch of the Cuban tradition,” from around 1949-1955. (Starr and Waterman, p. 214) A listen to music of the era provides strong evidence about the reasons why this craze foreshadows very dramatic shifts in the musical tastes which followed shortly. This Cuban inspired dance music is predicated on “an uptempo, highly energized, polyrhythmic variant of big band music.” (Starr and Waterman, p. 215) Mambo No. 5, recorded by Perez Prado and His Orchestra in 1949, is a great exemplar of the style that made this style popular. Recognizable in many ways, the undercurrent in the complex percussion parts are quite hard to listen to without feeling the need to move around and dance. The use of the wind instruments connects very well with the more familiar big band sounds of the time, but the dynamic contrasts in the higher brass are rather out of character with the cleaner big band counterparts. The resulting combinations are energetic and brash, and are present in many genres that follow, including the upcoming rock ’n’ roll craze.
One new musical center that developed in the 1950’s was the Nashville scene. “Country and western, the industry’s new name for what used to be called hillbilly music, mushroomed in popularity after WWII. … In 1950 … it was estimated that country music accounted for fully one-third of all record sales nationwide” (Starr and Waterman, p. 231). Tunes from this genre built on the blues-inspired hillbilly tradition, with very predictable chord progressions underneath a commentary through text that dealt with the trials and tribulations of the predominantly Southern singer songwriter. In sharp contrast to the uptempo mambo craze, these use a myriad of plucked stringed instruments to create a more pedestrian sounding set of songs. Songs such as Kitty Wells’ “It Wasn’t God Who Created Honky-Tonk Angels” are evidence that not every home in the United States was settled and happy. Hank Williams’ tune “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Hey, Good Lookin’” are required listening for anyone who studies the current Country Music musical landscape, as they provide a blueprint for songwriters to emulate even today. Use of the pedal steel guitar, multiple guitars, understated bass and drum patterns, and a strong focus on text that discusses the challenges of the common man are evident in Nashville tunes over the last 75 years.
Many of the musical subgenres discussed in the American vernacular music history to this point have been geared at an adult public who are listening to music in dance halls, social settings, and in the home. In the mid-1950’s a paradigm shift in the music business occurred, “in particular, record companies began for the first time to target young people, many of who had more pocket money to spend on records than ever before” (Starr and Waterman, p. 199). To fund this newfound desire to consume music that became increasingly popular, "many teenagers took on the adult responsibilities, working for wages while continuing to attend high school” (Starr and Waterman, p. 199). The implications in the entertainment industry are enormous, and radically affected the cultural identity of the United States and the world. “The advent of rock ’n’ roll … brought enormous changes to American popular music, and eventually to the world of popular music… Most significantly, styles that previously had remained on the margins of pop music from a marketing standpoint now began to infiltrate and eventually to dominate the center completely” (Starr and Waterman, p. 240)
Those familiar with the movie “Back to the Future” are familiar with the great quote by Marty McFly following his raucous performance of a new style of music, “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna LOVE it.” This blues riff in B was of course a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B Goode,” a tune that features a new way of playing the electric guitar that would revolutionize the popular music world. Renowned artists such as Steven Van Zandt, guitarist for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, noted in a video about the development of rock, "Chuck Berry created the form and structures of lyrics that would be copied by even Bob Dylan.” A careful listen to “Maybelline”by Berry provides a snapshot into the development of the last 75 years of rock. The text follows the hillbilly style of narrative commentary about a rather fast drive, from a certain perspective. However, much like the music 100 years earlier, the lyrics can be perceived as an encoded message. Who is Maybelline? Why does the singer need to drive 110 MPH to chase someone down? The ambiguity of lyrical content in the rock ’n’ roll style might have been a key factor in the pushback of parents everywhere. The sound of the guitars, which are overdriven in a very profound way, considering the tube amplifier technology of the time, is the “holy grail” of guitar sound, and it is no secret that bands emulate this sound even today. The archtop guitar and twin reverb amp combination is used by bands such as U2, Radiohead, The Black Keys, speaking to how revolutionary this sound was in the 1950’s.
References
Starr, L., & Waterman, C. (2014). American popular music: From minstrelsy to MP3 (Fourth ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
[Movieclips]. (2011, May 27). Johnny B. Goode - Back to the Future (9/10) Movie CLIP (1985) HD. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1i5coU-0_Q.
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