After the First World War and the Great Depression, many Americans followed
foreign policy distantly, concentrating instead on domestic matters. Radio,
however, swept up listeners during the mounting drama overseas and the prospect
of another world war seemed inevitable. The home front braced itself as staunch
isolationism gave way to political involvement. Music in general reflected
this change as the topic of conversation shifted from the self-contained "America
First" slogan to Hitler and Japan, war bonds, and the first peacetime conscription
in United States' history.
The seven songs presented here come from the 78 rpm and LP
disc collections in the Marr Sound Archives.
| Links to Sound Files |
Brief Descriptions of Audio
Sound Files with Related Links |
|
View Enlarged Image
|
From magazines to cartoons, war bond advertisements popped
up everywhere. Combining pure entertainment and economic sensibility,
radio played a significant role in this propagation, with songs like "Any
Bonds Today" leading the charge. The Andrews Sisters' version
was one of many, persuading Americans to buy "a share of freedom"
to help the country prepare for the impending war.
|
|
View Enlarged Image
|
A March 10, 1941 recording session produced "Blitzkrieg Baby
(You Can't Bomb Me)," a playful song "pleading neutrality"
and letting "that propaganda be." Vocalist Una Mae Carlisle
and Lester Young's tenor
sax offered a relaxed contrast to the lyrics, which expressed more of
a gentle warning than impartiality. The song was among the first sides
that Young made after leaving Count Basie's band in late 1940. The group
Young assembled to back Carlisle touted trumpeter Shad Collins and Clyde
Hart - a young pianist who, before his untimely death in 1945, appeared
on early be-bop records with, among others, Charlie Parker.
|
|
View Enlarged Image
|
The contributions of John
and Alan
Lomax to music history have proven as vital as the evolution of radio.
The father-son team traveled down dusty back roads, into churches, penitentiaries
and labor camps, and onto the common man's front porch to give "a
voice to the voiceless." A 1933 journey unearthed a still vibrant
work song tradition among African-American prisoners in the Deep South.
While at Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana that summer, the Lomaxes
discovered Huddie Ledbetter,
who astounded them with his enormous repertoire of folk songs. Leadbelly
- a nickname Ledbetter acquired in the prison system - would team up again
with Alan Lomax in 1940 for a marathon recording session. The one-day
project on August 23 yielded over 50 selections for the Library of Congress,
including a topic-of-the-day tune: "Roosevelt
Song."
|
|
View Enlarged Image
|
While signs increasingly pointed toward U.S. involvement, the diplomatic
efforts of Roosevelt and the isolationism inherent in the "America
First" motto encouraged people to remain devoted to issues at home.
The anti-war song "Stop The War (The Cats Are Killin' Themselves)"
represented such an opinion and examined the consequences of war with
subtle humor soaked in a New Orleans-based groove. Recorded in the spring
of 1941, the Bluebird release featured the one-armed trumpeter and vocalist
Joseph "Wingy" Manone
(misspelled "Wingie" on the label seen here), whose childhood
streetcar accident prevented him from enlisting.
|
|
View Enlarged Image
|
Of all the topics in pre-war America, the country's first peacetime military
draft arguably attracted the most discussion. Implemented on September
16, 1940, the government measure challenged the notion of isolationism
as the country began recruiting men and women for military services. The
October 1941 recording "He's 1-A In The Army And He's A-1
In My Heart," by Les Brown and his Orchestra, offered a
wispy look at the realities of conscription. With vocalist Betty Bonney's
proud declaration, "Now I've got a guy who never liked to fight /
But for Uncle Sam he said all right," the song summed up the conflicting
feelings of a nation on the brink of war.
|
|
View Enlarged Image
|
In his ten-year recording career, John
Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson cut over 120 sides for RCA's
Bluebird label and inspired scores of blues musicians to follow (blues
harpist Rice Miller, who hosted King Biscuit Time on Helena, AR, station
KFFA, eventually adopted the same stage name). Before his murder in 1948,
John Lee Williamson revolutionized the harmonica as a solo instrument
by alternating vocal passages with pungent, harmonica fills. "War
Time Blues" is an excellent example of this innovation and,
with a recording date of May 17, 1940, stands as one of the earliest songs
to hint at U.S. military involvement.
|
|
View Enlarged Image
|
With hits "If I Didn't Care" (#2), "Address
Unknown" (#1), "Maybe" (#4), and "We Three (My Echo,
My Shadow, And Me)" (#1) among its early successes, the Ink Spots
enthralled white and black audiences alike during the war years. In the
fall of 1941, the vocal quartet cracked the charts once again with a song
first performed by another African-American group - Harlan Leonard and
his Kansas City Rockets. "I
Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" (#4) carried poetic
weight for Americans, as the song's success preceded Pearl Harbor by a
matter of weeks. The innocent song title would assume a greater irony
in the days after December 7th, when Horace Heidt's version bumped Glenn
Miller's "Chattanooga Choo Choo" from the top of the charts.
|
G.I.
Jive
