Welcome to the Tin Pan Alley Project
Tin Pan Alley was the popular music industry that gave us the great
songs of 1890 to 1955—everything from “Daisy, Daisy” to “High Hopes,”
and including “Over the Rainbow,” “White Christmas,” “Summertime,” and
thousands of others!
This site offers information, advice, and
community for users, enthusiasts, and scholars of the wonderful songs
of Tin Pan Alley—and more!
(It is also still in development, so please forgive the scarcity of information—as yet—and visit again soon to read even more about Tin Pan Alley!)
Our Current Featured Articles:
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Two Fun Duets from the Early Years |
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When I sang these two obscure duets at a recent lecture, there was a wave of laughter and then excited applause. It just goes to show how "stage-worthy" much of this forgotten material is! They continue to delight and entertain: "Only in the Play" and "Pet Names."
Cohan's Pet Names
From The American Idea (1908). The wealthy, hefty comedienne-heroine sings this with the hotel clerk who has been finagled into pretending to be a count. All of this has been organized as a trick by the lady's ex-husband, hoping that he can woo her back.
It can be found online at:
Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection (John Hopkins University)
http://levy-test.dkc.jhu.edu/index.html
UCLA Music Library Digital Archive Popular American Music
http://digital.library.ucla.edu/apam/index.html
Charles H. Templeton Music Museum (Mississippi State University)
http://library.msstate.edu/content/templates/?a=1030
Also, see the page for this song .
Only in the Play
The soldier and the actress who sing this are the "third couple" in The Fortune Teller (1898), one of the successful early operettas by composer Victor Herbert and lyricist-librettist Harry B. Smith. This duet is playful, but also seems to express the modern age's uncertainty about absolute values.
It can be found online at:
Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection (John Hopkins University)
http://levy-test.dkc.jhu.edu/index.html
Their copy, however, has one page scanned sideways!
UCLA Music Library Digital Archive Popular American Music
http://digital.library.ucla.edu/apam/index.html
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