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2/13 Episode #2107Details. Lyrics provide insight into the ways that writers shape the quick, familiar references that define and distinguish attitude and…
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2/6 Episode #2106Bill Bailey and More. Large numbers of people can still sing at least part of “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home?” But there are a…
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Episode #21051/30 Live Alone and Like It. When an affair ends, it hurts, but you also discover that melancholy isn’t fatal. Life goes on. Not necessarily…
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Episode #21041/23 Odd Conversations. Nobody loves language more than a lyricist and nobody has a surer ear for the vagaries of everyday speech. The…
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Episode #21031/16 Dave Frishberg Is Hip. Dave Frishberg is not only hip, he’s offbeat. A jazz pianist who also writes, his songs are often humorous and…
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1/9 Curtain Going Up. How a Broadway show begins sets the tone, introduces characters, and starts the plot. It may also give you a good sense of when the…
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Episode #2052Resolutions and Promises Everybody’s smart enough to know that resolutions are hokum. Yet we continue to make them, knowing we’ll break them.…
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Episode #2051Johnny Mercer Starts a Company In 1942, Johnny Mercer became the only songwriter ever to found a major record company. He, Buddy DeSylva, and…
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Episode #2050Animal Crackers Animals range from the real to the make believe. In songs, they often appear as part of a juvenile strain—either sung by a…
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Episode #2049 Dick Haymes Croons As one of the best singers of tender ballads during the 1940s, Dick Haymes established himself as one of the most…