For nearly a century, New York's famous "Tin Pan Alley" was the center of popular music publishing in this country. It was where songwriting became a profession, and songs were made-to-order for the biggest stars. Selling popular music to a mass audience from coast-to-coast involved the greatest entertainment media of the day, from minstrelsy to Broadway, to vaudeville, dance palaces, radio, and motion pictures. Successful songwriting became an art, with a host of men and women becoming famous by writing famous songs.

Can you name that tune? Now you can with Tin Pan Alley, the ultimate source of information on hundreds of thousands of the most popular -- and even obscure -- American songs of the twentieth century. Telling the history and dreams of our nation through its music, Tin Pan Alley's show-stopping delivery of over 200,000 songs spotlights: heart wrenching ballads from the turn of the century, beloved and timeless Broadway songs, torch songs from sizzling nightclub acts, a number of "talkies" and "hum-alongs" from radio and tv, and much more. Tin Pan Alley's broad repertoire of songs also includes: -- the toe-tapping jazz of St. Louis and New Orleans -- the rhythmic cowboy influences of the West -- Chicago's brassy, "big city" sound -- African-influenced rhythms of the Old South. Ken Bloom (author of Hollywood Song: The Complete Film and Musical Companion which was selected by RASD/ALA as an Outstanding Reference Source, 1996) provides the reader -- and listener -- with complete songographies of over 200 leading twentieth-century American composers and lyricists. In three volumes, each entry alphabetically lists the songwriter's contribution in chronological order and includes whether the songs were written as pop songs or for Hollywood, Broadway, or nightclubs. Also included are a complete alphabetical listing of all songs, as well as an index of each songwriter's name. From the most acclaimed songwriters -- Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Burt Bacharach, and the Gershwins -- to the less prominent -- J. Fred Coots, Herman Hupfeld, Mack Gordon, and Harry Revel -- Tin Pan Alley is the perfect gift and resource for any aficionado of American music, now and then.

The American Song Book, Volume I: The Tin Pan Alley Era is the first in a projected five-volume series of books that will reprint original sheet music, including covers, of songs that constitute the enduring standards of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, and other lyricists and composers of what has been called the "Golden Age" of American popular music. These songs have done what popular songs are not supposed to do-stayed popular. They have been reinterpreted year after year, generation after generation, by jazz artists such as Charlie Parker and Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. In the 1950s, Frank Sinatra began recording albums of these standards and was soon followed by such singers as Tony Bennet, Doris Day, Willie Nelson, and Linda Ronstadt. In more recent years, these songs have been reinterpreted by Rod Stewart, Harry Connick, Jr., Carly Simon, Lady GaGa, K.D. Laing, Paul McCartney, and, most recently, Bob Dylan. As such, these songs constitute the closest thing America has to a repertory of enduring classical music. In addition to reprinting the sheet music for these classic songs, authors Philip Furia and Laurie Patterson place these songs in historical context with essays about the sheet-music publishing industry known as Tin Pan Alley, the emergence of American musical comedy on Broadway, and the "talkie" revolution that made possible the Hollywood musical. The authors also provide biographical sketches of songwriters, performers, and impresarios such as Florenz Ziegfeld. In addition, they analyze the lyrical and musical artistry of each song and relate anecdotes, sometimes amusing, sometimes poignant, about how the songs were created. The American Songbook is a book that can be read for enjoyment on its own or be propped on the piano to be played and sung.

The American Song Book, Volume I: The Tin Pan Alley Era is the first in a projected five-volume series of books that will reprint original sheet music, including covers, of songs that constitute the enduring standards of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, and other lyricists and composers of what has been called the "Golden Age" of American popular music. These songs have done what popular songs are not supposed to do-stayed popular. They have been reinterpreted year after year, generation after generation, by jazz artists such as Charlie Parker and Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. In the 1950s, Frank Sinatra began recording albums of these standards and was soon followed by such singers as Tony Bennet, Doris Day, Willie Nelson, and Linda Ronstadt. In more recent years, these songs have been reinterpreted by Rod Stewart, Harry Connick, Jr., Carly Simon, Lady GaGa, K.D. Laing, Paul McCartney, and, most recently, Bob Dylan. As such, these songs constitute the closest thing America has to a repertory of enduring classical music. In addition to reprinting the sheet music for these classic songs, authors Philip Furia and Laurie Patterson place these songs in historical context with essays about the sheet-music publishing industry known as Tin Pan Alley, the emergence of American musical comedy on Broadway, and the "talkie" revolution that made possible the Hollywood musical. The authors also provide biographical sketches of songwriters, performers, and impresarios such as Florenz Ziegfeld. In addition, they analyze the lyrical and musical artistry of each song and relate anecdotes, sometimes amusing, sometimes poignant, about how the songs were created. The American Songbook is a book that can be read for enjoyment on its own or be propped on the piano to be played and sung.