Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21
Continued from page 8

Continued from page 8
sentence as @there amt no, ETC., and in
which there are to be no references to pork
chops and chicken. predict that it will be
hit for this very reason.
There are in this country about a hum
dred and fifty thousand persons, have esti-
mated, who are trying to write popular songs
and reap the resultant golden harvest. l
personally receive about fifty thousand
manuscripts every year from these amateur
ballad writers, and the one great predomi-
mating and ruinous fault in all of them is
lack of originality. The moment some such
song as Il Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now"
makes hit, all the would be popular song
writer's in all the outlying districts try to
duplicate the hit with some such related
lyric as II Wonder Who's Her Beau Now,
II Wonder Who's Admiring Her." and Il
Wonder if She'll Ever Let Another Fellow
Kiss Her." Of course, there is no chance for
limitations of this order, and consequently
the vast volunteer army of song writer's
wastes it's time and postage stamps
A BIG, popular song hit is rarely, if ever,
"A duplicated out of itself That is nothing
exactly or even nearly like the original will
gain the success, or measure OF the success,
Of the original song hit The song writer
may appropriate the style of emotion repre-
sented in the popular song (as indicated IN a
way in the instance of sentiment in the six
best sellers" list already quoted; but he
may not follow the precise lyric or music
method of the first hit in representing his
emotion. He must exploit that emotion
the one the public feels and desires at the
time-n different manner.
To illustrate the variety of ways in which
the same central subject may be set forth in
a song, let me take the idea of the child
whose mother has died and who wants to
communicate with her, in the belief that
such communication is still possible.
First, you may utilize the idea in song
like aHello, Central, Give Me Heaven" the
intrinsic method of which is sufficiently con-
veyed through the title. Then, again, you
may work out the idea in song like 4Shall l
Find My Mama There?' using policeman
as the figure through whom the innocent and
lonely child tries to find his mother who has
died. Or, still again, you may work out the
idea in child's plant, Il Want to Buy
Little Bit of Love-" telling the story through
the secondary medium of a shopkeeper to
whom the youngster, whose mother has died
and whose life is made miserable by step
mother, goes in the hope of being able to pur-
chase love, if the shopkeeper will be so good
as to get the child's real mother to send some
of it down from Heaven.
might 60 on indefinitely and detail other
methods for the exploiting of the same emo
ton; but believe have explained the case
in point with sufficient clarity. The three
songs mentioned are from my own pen, and
their success bears out the truth of my con-
tention. You must invent new ways of pro-
ducing and injecting the same emotion in
popular songs. 1t will not do that you seek
to exploit the desired emotion in manner
in which it has already been exploited.
WRITING songs to order is much like
" delivering laundry. It is neither diff
cult nor remunerative, and it is anything
but satisfying to oneself. The method is
something like this:
When Natural Gas" was produced, Eddie
Gavin came to me (this was way back in the
Milwaukee phase of my career) and told me
to write him an alderman song" Il play
the part of an Alderman in the show" he ex-
planned.
whats your character S manner" asked.
michael O'Cork," said he.
Result: A song called alderman Michael
O'Cork." Remuneration: Ten dollars (still
due). Final whistling power: nil. The song
was all right in its way, l suppose; but it
was hack work, uninspired, not particularly
original, and with no justifable cause for
iving-aye, even breathing.
1t soon developed, however, that the pub