Tea at Trianon: Practicing the Art of Popular Song Writing

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Practicing the Art of Popular Song Writing

An old article about Irving Berlin. From The Writer's Digest:

Irving Berlin began with more than his share of handicaps. His family was bitterly poor, his formal education was extremely “sketchy,” and his knowledge of music was absolutely nil. In addition, he has never been especially robust physically. He has overcome poverty and, to some extent, lack of education but he still pounds out his melodies on the piano with one finger. He can play the piano passably, by ear, in just one key—F sharp. He can neither read music nor transcribe it, yet he gave birth to the intricate and brilliant melody of “Everybody Step,” which musical critics have hailed as a masterpiece of musical art.

“Oh, Mr. Berlin,” someone said to him one day, “I guess there’s no one who has written as many song hits as you have.”

“I know there’s no one who has written so many failures,” he replied with a smile.

There you have a least one of the factors in his success. It is a factor which inevitably shows itself in the story of every successful man—that of perseverance and refusal to become discouraged. He has written a lot of failures, yes. But look at the hits he has also turned out. In his sparring with Life, or Destiny, or whatever it is we mortals battle, he has received many a black eye but, as the Irishman in his story said, “You ought to see the other fellow.”

During his earlier years as a song writer, he was a prolific producer. He poured out songs so fast at one time that many were published under a nom de plume. These songs did not just bubble out of him; rather, they were exploded out of him. A chance spark from the anvil of Life, an inward explosion—and another song was born. (Read more.)