From the Book - First Pegasus Books cloth edition.
1900: pop in the beginning
Elite syncopations: Scott Joplin and ragtime
Songs for sale: Tin Pan Alley
Doing what comes naturally: Irving Berlin
A culture of consolation: music hall and musical theatre
On the other side of a big black cloud: World War I
A conversation of instruments: the birth of jazz
The greatest love of all: Louis Armstrong
The blab of the pave: Jerome Kern and Broadway
Let me entertain you: Al Jolson
I'm gonna do it if I like it: the Jazz Age
In a silent way: race records
Invisible airwaves crackle with life: radio
Trying hard to recreate what had yet to be created: hillbilly
Black and tan fantasy: Duke Ellington and the Cotton Club
Learn to croon: Rudy Vallee and the dawn of the electric era
All Hollywood and all heaven: talking pictures
Ten cents a dance: the Great Depression
Nothing but blue skies: Bing Crosby
Industrial light and magic: the movie musical
Pardon my pups: The Boswell Sisters
Make those people sway: British dance bands
Fascinating rhythm: Fred Astaire and the dance-hall boom
Eighty-eight key smiles: Fats Waller and friends
Tight like that: the age of swing
Serenade in blue: the Great American Songbook
The winds grow colder: Judy Garland and Billie Holiday
Be like the kettle and sing: Britain at war
Why don't you do right: America at war
Hot licks with vanilla: Glenn Miller
Someone to watch over me: vocal refrains
We had to break up the band: post-war jazz
Call me irresponsible: Frank Sinatra
Saturday night fish fry: rhythm and blues
California suite: the long-player
It's Mitch Miller's world and we just live in it: the 45
Breaks a new heart every day: Peggy Lee
Almost like praying: post-war Broadway
Experiments with mice: British big bands
Revival: trad jazz and folk
In a restless world: Nat King Cole
Ports of pleasure: exotica
Sharks in Jets clothing: rock 'n' roll
The Summit: Frank, Dino and Sammy
TV is the thing: the rise of television
I could go on singing: the next generation
The strength of strings: film soundtracks
What kind of fool am I: Lionel Bart and Anthony Newley
Whipped cream and other delights: adventures in Beatleland
The last waltz: Tom Jones and the New Balladeers
Some kind of rapproachment: the 1970s
