God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War

Kathleen E. R. Smith. God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War. The University Press of Kentucky, 2003. 274 pages; $45.00. Music and Patriotism On the evening of December 7, 1941-just hours after the Japanese sneak attack had jolted most Americans from years of uncertainty, apathy, and complacency-many groups quickly gathered to formulate plans for the next few days. The armed forces, of course, stood at maximum alert ready for any encounter while law enforcement officers, following J. Edgar Hoover's afternoon dictum, started rounding up potential saboteurs and enemy agents. Newspaper editors, determined to keep the nation informed, bellowed orders to pressman, ordering these printers to stand by their equipment, ready to roll at a moment's notice, while Hollywood moguls, fully aware of their medium's propaganda value, promised full cooperation. Another assemblage, the Tin Pan Alley songsmiths, sat down at pianos and began composing tunes, hoping their music would inspire some patriotism during these frightening times. By the next morning, hours before FDR delivered his stalwart Day of Infamy declaration, a few songs were already in publishers' hands and by day's end their lyrics-full of uncomplimentary chords-blasted the Oriental foe. Charles Tobias and Cliff Friend hammered out "We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again," while Carl Hoff and Orrin Tucker forged "You're a Sap, Mr. Jap." Another copyrighted title, "The Sun will be Setting for the Land of the Rising Sun," by Max Lerner, reiterated anti-Japanese sentiment. Soon, other tunes flashed over the airwaves and by early 1942, radio audiences were humming the melodies .of "When those Little Yellow Bellies Meet the Cohens and the Kellys," "Slap the Jap Right off the Map," and "We're Going to Find a Fellow Who is Yellow and Beat Him Red, White and Blue." Since Hitler's Germany was also a belligerent, a few anti-Nazi ditties, "Let's Put the Ax to the Axis" and "Let's Knock the Hit out of Hitler" reaffirmed America's determination to win the War. For the next three years these songsters, continued to churn out one melody after another hoping that their latest creation would catch on as the nation's official World War II title. And while dozens of popular tunes offered messages of morale and guarantees of victory, not one tide, according to Professor Kathleen E. R. Smith, emerged as the definitive War song. Why was this? Why could not one composition pump up the blood, skyrocket to the top, and raise the public consciousness to untold patriotic levels? What happened? Had stateside composers run out of steam? These are some of the questions Dr. Smith answers in her excellent study, God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War. …