What did popular song mean to people across the world during the First World War? For the first time, song repertoires and musical industries from countries on both sides in the Great War as well as from neutral countries are analysed in one exciting volume. Experts from around the world, and with very different approaches, bring to life the entertainment of a century ago, to show the role it played in the lives of our ancestors. The reader will meet the penniless lyricist, the theatre chain owner, the cross-dressing singer, fado composer, stage Scotsman or rhyming soldier, whether they come from Serbia, Britain, the USA, Germany, France, Portugal or elsewhere, in this fascinating exploration of showbiz before the generalization of the gramophone. Singing was a vector for patriotic support for the war, and sometimes for anti-war activism, but it was much more than that, and expressed and constructed debates, anxieties, social identities and changes in gender roles. This work, accompanied by many links to online recordings, will allow the reader to glimpse the complex role of popular song in people’s lives in a period of total war.

The haunting songs of the First World War still have a powerful emotional impact. These are the funny, bitter, sad and romantic words the soldiers actually sang on the march, in the dug-outs and trenches. Amidst the appalling carnage of the battlefield, the stoic courage and endurance of the ordinary soldiers shines through in songs like No More Soldiering for Me and It's a long, long way to Tipperary. This attractive and evocative book cannot fail to delight and move anyone with an interest in the First World War.

Merriam Press World War 2 History. Some of the most memorable and enduring popular music of the Twentieth Century was written during the Second World War. With patriotism at an all-time high, the war effort became an integral part of the entertainment industry, creating an emotional wartime dream world of heroes, love, remembrance, reflection, and introspection. The Music of World War II tells the stories behind the origins of many of these musical compositions, some of which have survived to become standards still popular today. Contents: Preface; Introduction: The Music of the Second World War; My Sister and I: The True Story; Love, Separation, and Homecoming; Patriotism; Tribute; Military Service; Faith, Hope, and Devotion; Novelty; Epilogue; Acknowledgments; Bibliography. 54 photos and illustrations, bibliography.

"Catalogs the patriotic sheet music of World War I. Introductory information describes how the music messages often paralleled Woodrow Wilson's policies. Data includes title, authors of the lyrics and music when available, value based on auction prices and collector knowledge, publisher, folio size and cover description. More than 400 photos of outstanding sheet music covers are included"--Provided by publisher.

An advertisement in the sheet music of the song “Goodbye Broadway, Hello France” (1917) announces: “Music will help win the war!” This ad hits upon an American sentiment expressed not just in advertising, but heard from other sectors of society during the American engagement in the First World War. It was an idea both imagined and practiced, from military culture to sheet music writers, about the power of music to help create a strong military and national community in the face of the conflict; it appears straightforward. Nevertheless, the published sheet music, in addition to discourse about gender, soldiering and music, evince a more complex picture of society. This book presents a study of sheet music and military singing practices in America during the First World War that critically situates them in the social discourses, including issues of segregation and suffrage, and the historical context of the war. The transfer of musical styles between the civilian and military realm was fluid because so many men were enlisted from homes with the sheet music while they were also singing songs in their military training. Close musical analysis brings the meaningful musical and lyrical expressions of this time period to the forefront of our understanding of soldier and civilian music making at this time.

"Catalogs the patriotic sheet music of World War I. Introductory information describes how the music messages often paralleled Woodrow Wilson's policies. Data includes title, authors of the lyrics and music when available, value based on auction prices and collector knowledge, publisher, folio size and cover description. More than 400 photos of outstanding sheet music covers are included"--Provided by publisher.