More in ‘A Fine Romance’

This compact book is a lucid personal response to a thick and complicated subject; how and why so many standards from the Great American Songbook came from the minds, hearts and pens of Jewish songwriters, from the Gershwins, Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin to Rodgers, Hart and Hammerstein, Frank Loesser, Harold Arlen, and on through ...

“a poet’s witty and ruminative examination of how Jewish songwriters…used outsider status to gain perspective in forging a canon of sophisticated, quintessentially American songs in the pre-rock era”

“I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” is a 1932 pop standard by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. It was also the title of Wednesday night’s concert in Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series—a night of music and commentary produced by the impresario Hal Willner and celebrating A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, David Lehman’s ...

David Lehman, author of Nextbook Press’s A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, went on the popular WNYC radio show Soundcheck to discuss the Jewish roots of American popular music. You can listen to his conversation, which touches on the Brothers Gershwin, Bob Dylan, and more, below:

“I Gotta Right To Sing the Blues?”—a concert inspired ...

“The two holidays that celebrate the divinity of Christ—the divinity that’s the very heart of the Jewish rejection of Christianity—and what does Irving Berlin do? He de-Christs them both! Easter he turns into a fashion show and Christmas into a holiday about snow.” Philip Roth, in Operation Shylock, was referring to Berlin’s “Easter Parade” and, ...

It’s astonishing how many hits from the American songbook—the corpus of music written from the 1920s to the 1960s that includes Broadway hits, Tin Pan Alley tunes, and Hollywood musicals—were written by Jews. These Jewish composers and lyricists included heavy hitters like Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and the Gershwins, plus perhaps lesser known figures ...

In the wild world of ex-Beach Boy Brian Wilson, when he calls an upcoming album “the most spiritual project I’ve ever worked on,” almost anything could spring to mind: Gregorian chants? Rainforest noises? Babies gurgling? In fact, his latest muse is even more surprising: George Gershwin. As part of a two-album deal with Disney, Wilson ...

A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, published this month by Nextbook Press, is an appreciation of the national songbook as the work of Jewish composers and lyricists. Author David Lehman picked his top ten favorite standards for Tablet Magazine. Here’s his playlist:
“The Lady is a Tramp,” music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart. ...