Yes Sir, That's My Baby

The Golden Years of Tin Pan Alley: 1920-1929 The naive romanticism of the Jazz Age, when, as F. Scott Fitzgerald saw it, "people danced in a champagne haze on the rooftop of the world," was nowhere more clearly reflected than in America's popular music of the 1920s. The banal optimism, the desperate gaiety, the tinsel pretentiousness, the childish excitement, and the innocent beauty of the songs between the end of World War I and the Depression demonstrate how sweet and sad and silly a time it was. The subject matter of the love songs, the "nut" or nonsense novelties, the sentimental ballads, and the "exotic" dance numbers almost never attempted to deal with real events or emotions. As in other decades, the songs were written by hacks, craftsmen, accidentally talented illiterates, and, thankfully, a considerable number of composers and lyricists of extraordinary creative gifts. This excellent compilation of some of the most emblematic songs and performers of the Tin Pan Alley era is