The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-10-30
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HY PAUL HARRISON

Bx PAUL HARRISON
 New York-Th conversation had drifted around to popular songs and to speculation as to why there have been 50 few hits among the depression ditties. Then, .as everybody hoped he would, up spoke pr Sigmund spaeth, the nmiable lecturer and writer on common-sense. aspects of music. Dr Spaeth:
 "The fact is that really popular songs are almost never born out Iof great crises and important events. Songs Intended to cure our, cosmic Ills just don't go over very well. Why? We'll, for written to order. Remember when Mir Hoover suggested to Rudy vaIlee that he write song to stop the depressicn?' vallee sSolcn oSo ms Ssara wsss 0ns sha GeoTSe MSe 0nE M Conan was doing one. But 1t didn't amount to much. Co., han also wrote song to order for the Washington bi-centennial. It was called Father of the Land We Love- and q million copies were printed. But mighty few were sold.
 "1'ii bet you haven't even heard the names of a lot of the depres- sion songs. Some of the recently Be Alive Good Times Coming Let's Go. America, Here Comes the Cheer Parade,' When Times Get Better wen See It Through and Buy American Instead, Stormy Weather Lazy Bones and such tunes that have nothing to do with the depression. Some people are trying to read a lot of allegorical significance into Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?' But Ann Ronell, who CO., authOred 1t, told me that nothing like that was intended"
 
 Great War Favorite
 Going back to the World war. Dr Spaeth recalled that Cohan's lover There" and Irving Berlin's 70, How Hate to Get Up in the Morning. were almost the sole exceptions of his rule. Sentimental favorites of the soldiers was "The Long, Long Trial" which was written some years before, though | few people have known about 1t. "The words were originally part of a poem with which Stoddard King won O literary prize at Yale" | Dr Spaeth said. "The Yale Glee club then offered prize for some music to fit the verse, and 20 El- Hot, Kings roommate, composed | the winning tune. They tried to get the song published, but no Ameri- concern would touch 1t.
 "Elliot later went to Oxford, where he played and sang The l Long, Long Trair around the dor mitories. It became very popular with the Oxford men, and when the war. began they were the ones who Introduced 1t into British army. An English publisher grabbed 1t, and 1t finally got back to America with its reputation al-
 ready made"
 Sung at San Juan
 Having Q very long memory in-
 deed, Dr Spaeth then reached
 back to the Spanish American
 war, recalling that the song that
 carried the Americans up San Juan Hiii was "There'ii Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" The | music had been written nearly ten years before by Theodore Metz, . German bandmaster who was n1u- sical director for the Mcintyre and Heath minstrels. He got the title while watching some Negro shan ties burning in Louisiana, and Joe
 Hayden later wrote the almost
 meaningless lyrics.
 Break the News to Mother"
 wasn't inspired by that war either." pr Spaeth declared. Tt had lain on the shelf for years
 before the war made 1t popular. I Charles K. Harris = he's the one who wrote After the Baii'--once
 told me he finished the sob ballad
 while sitting in . barber chair be-
 "During the Civil war, the most I popular song was 'Shoo, Ely, Don't Bother Me- which certainly had nothing to do with the conflict. l Neither had Dixie which the
 South has always loved. Dixie
 was written right here in New York, in 1859, for Bryants Min-
 strels Daniel Emmett wrote 1t as ta walk around number = when
 the whole company would set up
 and strut about the stage.
 Ut was just routine job. and
 didn't catch on here especially.
 But shortly before the war be-
 tween the states, Mrs John Wood
 introduced 1t in Q show in New
 Orleans, and 1t was q great hit. The man from Louisiana carried fl
 into the Confederate army and the