The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-12-09

Did you ever sit in the theater listen
ling to the best songs, the most catchy
lyrics of modern light opera, and then
suddcnly be filed with I heart-hunger
for song with soni in it-a song in
which tender, witching melody is not
married TO words of sickening, gro
Itcsque sentimentalty or salacious sug-
lgestion2 l have until il hurt And,
.curiously. this revulsion has been quick
lest aroused, in my own case, not by the
lblatantly nonsensical song, but by the
lyric that had a thread OF the real run
ming through the shoddy-just enough
trace of the genuine to make the coun-
Itcrfeit seem all the more abhorrent. At
such times mellow loneliness has crcpt
over me. and l have longed to hear a
real song. ringing true and clear and
breathing a spirit instead OF a sound
longed for ii as for an absent friend.
or as for the days that arc no more"
: And out Of such moments and moods
has grown the question: How long
shall we suffer under the scourge Of tho
vapid, pueTile, the suggestive in the songs
Of the day? Is the generation which
places the laurel OF popularity upon
Gee, Be Sweet To Me- KID" and fills
Streets and homes with the multiplied
repettions of Il Simply Cannot Make
My Eyes Behave" beyond the apprecia-
ton OF honest sentiment? And if
and give US peer to Loves Old Sweet
put the question, only the other day, to
Z publisher Of popular music of the
better sort Here is his reply: Il be-
lcvc that the lcople are hungry for
songs that ring true. songs that 60
straight TO the heart, songs that have
the glow OF honest sentiment instead of
opera bouffe scntimentality Human
nature has not, at bottom, greatly
changed since John Howard Payne gave
Us Home, Sweet Home or Samuel
Woodwork wrote The Old Oakcn
Bucket or Stephen G Foster set the
world singing The Old Folks at Home
The sophisticated and the blase may
give popularity to the song OF false mo-
tive and the cultured may scorn all
songs save those which bear the hall
mark of the classic-but the common
people are as ready today to give fame
10 a new maker Of songs which will
reach the heart OF the multitude in the
same old way, as was the nation back
in 1892 to thrill with new sense of
love Of country when Samuel Francis
Smith put into the lips OF the people
the ringing measure Of America And
some poct-probably humble one-will
answer to the call of the hour, anl sound
the first note of new song era which
will reveal the tawdry spuriousness of
the present day favoritcs IN all their
cheapness and tinSel We have the mu-
sicians who are equal to the task. The
witchery and charm with which they
oothe the feeble and frivolous offerings
Of the lyric writers are proof enough
of their ability Give them lines that
have the vital spark and they will weave
melodies that will echo from million
lips. Take the good old songs / have
named-and we have none grcater-they
are as inextinguishable as the fires Of
Vulcan. AS we'll try to put out the sun
as to hush those songs IN the homes OF
the American peoplel And why? Be
cause they have real sentiment instead
of the counterfeit, because they mean
Something that awdkens a response in
the soul of every human being who is
not dead to love of home. of kindred
and Of country
But each generation should add to
'our national asset by its own songs, voic-
ing its own spirit And the call for the
contribution from this generation is now
strong. | believe that IT will be an
swered and that the next few years will
be richer in new songs which have the
real FIRE than the period through which
we have Just been passing, and in which
we are still lingering-the period of the
comic opera, OF the musical farce
That expression, Our national asset,
caught my car. Are songs national
asset1 Give your own answer, but here
is mine: Yes: an asset unthinkably
precious and valuable beyond the power
OF the multiplication table to express!
Which would be the greater patriotic
loss to this country-to strike from the
sight Of our eyes every United States
flag in existence and Danish for cen
tury from the vision of the people the
physical emblem OF our nation, or tc
hush the strains OF America" or The
S!ar-Spangled Banner" in this land for
hundred years? Thousands of chil-
dren look unthinkinely upon the star;
and stripes every day without an added
heartbeat But is there a boy or glrl
in all the myriad of school rooms OF
the land, who hears the strain OF our ma.
tional emblem without conscious thrill
None
And what is recognized as the quick
est and surcst way Of awakening thC
love of land of the free and the home
Of the brave" in the hearts OF the I'M