To: LUV W; MS.BEHAVIN; Kathy in Alaska; radu; left that other site
THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK
HARRY WARREN
SPRING IS HERE: “CRYING FOR THE CAROLINES“
This was a Rodgers & Hart musical that ran on Broadway in 1929 and whose movie rights were purchased by Warner Brothers. It’s where the 1925 merger between Vitagraph and Warner Brothers paid off for Harry, who got three of his songs inserted into the 1930 movie. Sam Lewis and Joe Young were his lyricists.
In the early years of the Great Depression, something very interesting happened to the American popular song. In the 1920s, not many songs were set in minor keys. But by 1930, songs written in major keys were suddenly dipping into the minor for the middle eight bars. Then came songs like this that were completely in a minor key. Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz” from 1931 was written in a minor key, and it’s anything but sad. But this song, like “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime,” also from 1931, fit a minor key like a glove.
This is what it looked and sounded like in the 1930 movie. One of the Brox Sisters later married Jimmy van Heusen, who will eventually get his turn at the Great American Songbook.