Why Popular Western Music Began in 1927

This book is important! Just saying. Make sure you go over My Heart Stood Still, the movie of the Jazz Singer, and the song from 1927 that Elvis covered.

We started out with a popular song (make sure you go over it) written in 1927 by  Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart who also wrote many other famous songs such as “Blue Moon“, “The Lady Is a Tramp“, “Manhattan“, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered“, and “My Funny Valentine“.

But today we’ll look at “My Heart Stood Still.” 1927

Scroll down to see different versions of this song.

Songs way back then began with a “Verse” 

(Man):I laughed at sweethearts
I met at schools
All indiscreet hearts
Seemed romantic fools
A house in Iceland was my heart’s domain
I saw your eyes, now castles rise in Spain

(Woman): Through all my school days
I hated boys
Those April Fool days
Brought me loveless joys
I read my Plato. Love I thought a sin
But since your kiss, I’m reading Mrs. Glynn

My Heart Stood Still, 1927,

Richard Rodgers (Rogazinsky) and Lorenz Hart

from A Connecticut Yankee (musical and movie)

I took one look at you
That’s all I meant to do
And then my heart stood still
My feet could step and walk
My lips could move and talk
And yet my heart stood still

Though not a single word was spoken
I could tell you knew
That unfelt clasp of hands
Told me so well you knew
I never lived at all
Until the thrill of that moment when
My heart stood still

How would you hear music before the 1920s?

You could always hear live music in cabarets, vaudeville, clubs, bars, events, places of worship and places of ill repute. At home, if you had a piano. And also in movie theaters.

from Wikipedia:

“During the silent-film era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist—or even, in large cities, a small orchestra would often play music to accompany the films. Pianists and organists would play either from sheet music, or improvisation.”

Sheet music had been big since the 1880s but was destined to decline slowly.

The late-19th century saw a massive explosion of parlor music, with ownership of, and skill at playing the piano becoming de rigueur for the middle-class family. In the late-19th century, if a middle-class family wanted to hear a popular new song or piece, they would buy the sheet music and then perform the song or piece in an amateur fashion in their home. But in the early 20th century the phonograph and recorded music grew greatly in importance. This, joined by the growth in popularity of radio broadcasting from the 1920s on, lessened the importance of the sheet music publishers. The record industry eventually replaced the sheet music publishers as the music industry’s largest force.

Player piano sales peaked in the mid twenties but were still popular.

Sales peaked in 1924, then declined as the improvement in phonograph recordings due to electrical recording methods developed in the mid-1920s.

Video: Music from 1:20

Why is 1927 is a good year to begin our course on the Popular Music of the Twentieth Century? Here’s why.

1 People were buying radios:

Commercial radio sales began around 1920. By 1927 they had matured (people who could afford a radio had bought one). At the beginning the radio manufacturers supplied the content. But when radios became popular, companies would buy and name music programs, and radio stations came into being. ‘Commercials’ would follow later.

2. Record players started to appear alongside radios in the mid 1920s, both alongside radio receivers (“record player” or “radio-phonograph”). Portable record players (with no radio) also became very popular.

3 Sound was introduced into movies:

The first  talking picture with lots of sound and music was Jazz Singer (1927), about the life of Al Jolson, starring Al Jolson as himself.

Here he is in this famous scene where he sings  “Blue Skies” written by Irving Berlin.

Blue Skies

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/irving-berlin/blue-skies-chords-1043363

For more songs by the great Irving Berlin:

It’s worth going over this book. We talked about

4 – The first ‘Modern Musical’ was introduced:

The first modern musical, Showboat, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein and music by Jerome Kern,  appeared in 1927. It is a classic which is still loved and performed.

Singing from 1:29

Billie starts singing at 1:29

Of all the popular music writers of the time (there were many) the most outstanding figure is probably Jerome Kern. Find out why here.

And if you like Jerome Kern, you’ll love the Gershwins

Here is my personal favorite, from 1927

If you like Gershwin, you’ll love Cole Porter

Songs from 1927 –Let’s take a brief look!

And you may know this song, too!! From 1926/7!!

        C        Em            Am         Am
Are you lonesome tonight, do you miss me tonight?
         C        C7          F  F
Are you sorry we drifted apart?
           G      G            G7            G7
Does your memory stray to a brighter summer day
         G7             G7            C     C
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart?
        C7              C7          F         F
Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare?
       D            D            Dm           G
Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?
        C                 Em           D           D
Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again?
        Dm            G7        C    G7
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight.

Are you convinced now that 1927 is a good year to start the course? You can check out more hit songs from 1927 here:

https://playback.fm/charts/top-100-songs/1927

I’m sure you’ll find something to love, after 97 years!