Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
50
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
SOME IDEAS ON LYRIC MAKING
Some of the Problems Which Confront the
Writer of Lyrics Described in an Interesting
Article by a Prominent English Writer
One uses the word "lyric-making" designedly.
The production of verses for the lighter stage
has nothing to do with what Mr. Herrick and
Mr. Keats would, in the innocence of their
hearts, regard as a lyric, says the Globe. Some
of the most lyrical poems in the language are
not "singable"—a horrible word to use, but there
is no alternative. And the maker of lyrics has
two tyrants—the composer and the singer. The
latter despot is, by the way, the more tyran-
nous of the two.
The manufacturer of lyrics is further ham-
pered by a choice of subjects. There are only
a few to choose from, of which love, as that
passion is understood on the lighter stage, is
the chief. This, again, brings us up against
another of the lyricist's troubles. A song about
love (the lyric stage variety) must contain the
word "girl." And there are very few rhymes
to this simple and universally-used word. A
"girl," in a lyric, must set something or other
"in a whirl."
Failing this, she must be a
"pearl," or be beloved by an "earl." There is
one more hope for the desperate poet, driven
to madness by the thought of innumerable other
songs in which these rhymes have been em-
ployed. The young woman in question may
be endowed with a curl. After this the supply
of rhymes for "girl" peters out. It will thus
be seen that the lyricist's Pegasus is severely
handicapped.
It is only when one considers the difficulties
of lyric-making that one realizes the extraor-
dinary paucity of rhymes to some of our most
familiar words.
Take the typically English
word "home," for instance. A song of home,
if it is to jingle with the most effective word
in it, has to contain a reference to "the foam,"
generally supposed to indicate the ocean; or
the person chiefly concerned is compelled to
"roam." There is a selection of other rhymes.
Two Sensational English
Ballad Successes
"Somewhere a Voice is Calling"
"The Sunshine of Your Smile"
T. B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter
62 West 45th Street
NEW YORK
BUY YOUR MUSIC FROM
BOSTON
Publishers
WALTER JACOBS
8 Bosworth St.,
BOSTON, MASS.
^ y
"See Dixie First"
Oliver Ditson Company
BOSTON
NEW YORK
Anticipate and supply Every Requirement of Music
Dealers
White-Smith Music Pub. Co.
but it would puzzle the most ingenious lyricist
to employ them. A comb is a common object
of every respectable home, but it can hardly be
mentioned in song. Nor is any ordinary dwell-
ing adorned with a dome, and tomes are corre-
spondingly scarce. There are obvious difficulties
in the words gnome, loam and chrome. There-
fore, the writer is thrown back upon the good
old hacks already mentioned.
Our nervy
American cousins, however, can always bring
in a reference to the celebrated danseuse Sa-
lome; and, what is more, they do! But this
daring seems beyond our home-grown lyricists.
Mention of home and girls brings us nat-
urally to the consideration of boys. In their
plural form they are barred to the lyricist, since
the only permitted rhyme is "noise," which,
from its very appropriateness, has been so se-
verely worked that it may be permitted an hon-
orable retirement. "Joy" as a rhyme seems in-
dissolubly linked with "boy," and "coy" is an-
other favorite companion. We have now left
only "annoy" and "toy."
There are several rhymes which seem to
bring another word in their train inevitably.
For instance, when we are told in song about
a party we know very well that in the next line
or two we shall be interested to learn that
somebody or other was hearty.
No hero or
heroine can be Piccadilly way, without acting
in a silly way. A girl who is fair must be nat-
urally beyond compare.
Elaborate rhymes of the Ingoldsby pattern
are discouraged in lyric writing. The jingles
must be plain and straightforward; preferably
of one syllable. Jt is but seldom that the lyric-
writer is allowed to wander into trisyllabic
paths, as in the deathless couplet:
"I am a specimen
Of the dressy men,"
which delighted musical comedy aud ences some
few years ago. VV. S. Gilbert was the only
lyricist who was allowed such feats, because
Savoy opera was of a genre apart from any other
kind of entertainment. The lyricist, though in
many instances quite capable of the neatest and
most ingenious rhyming, is almost compelled
to a certain stern simplicity, which would not
allow of such vagaries as the "lot o' news" about
the "hypotenuse" in which Major-General Stan-
ley reveled. Even Gilbert-fell down badly at
times. As when the sons of King Gama, in
divesting themselves of their armour, which
they deprecated as "ironmongery," in the next
lines burst into an invocation to "Hungary,"
thus astonishing the audience with the hitherto
unsuspected fact that they were Magyars.
When all the difficulties besetting the writing
of lyrics are considered, it is not so surprising
that Pegasus jibs a little at times as that he ever
attains any pace at all!
FEBRUARY 2, 1918
WORKING FOR AMERICAN MUSIC
Slogan "Something American in Every Pro-
gram," as Adopted by the White-Smith Co., Is
Particularly Appropriate at This Time
BOSTON, MASS., January 28.—TJie
White-Smith
Publishing Co. deserves encouragement in the
development of the idea back of its recently
adopted slogan, "Something American in Every
Program." With the elimination of European
editions of music from the American market
owing to the war, and the consequent forcing
of teachers and students who in the past could
see nothing of value in music unless it was from
Germany to fall back upon American composi-
tions for their own salvation, the time is most
appropriate for pushing the music of this coun-
try forward at every opportunity and making
the general music public realize its value.
"In the past," said Banks M. Davidson, of the
White-Smith Co., "the average concert pro-
gram included, first, a group of German songs,
then a group of French songs, possibly some
Italian and English songs, and finally, and it
seemed in the nature of pap to any patriotic
members of the audience, there would be found
a group of American songs selected at random,
and apparently placed there of necessity rather
than of design.
We believe that American
music is good enough to find a prominent place
in, even if it does not dominate, concert pro-
grams. Hence the slogan, 'Something Ameri-
can in Every Program.' "
Publishers of good music in this country al-
ready report a general quickening in demand
from schools, individual teachers and scholars
for music to take the place of their European
works so long looked upon as standard by that
element who had either received their training
in Europe or under teachers who had been
trained abroad. It is believed that, once having
adopted American music and realizing its gen-
uine value, the teaching element will be much
inclined to stick to that sort of music after the
war is over, and to make the American School
of Music a reality rather than a dream.
It rests largely with the music publishers
themselves whether or not full advantage be
taken of the present opportunities that exist to
push their music to the forefront and to keep
it there. The adoption of some such slogan
as "Something American in Every Program,"
and the making of such a slogan a genuine
reflection of the business policies of the house,
will do much to place American music in its
proper position.
Consult the universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
The Song of the Moment
Two Splendid Sacred Songs
"KEEP THE HOME-
FIRES BURNING"
"THE VOICE IN THE
WILDERNESS"
In Great Demand
(Till the Boys Come Home)
CHAPPELL & CO., Ltd.
41 East 34th St.
NEW YORK
JOHN PRINDLE SCOTT
" TRUST YE IN THE
LORD"
JOHN PRINDLE SCOTT
These songs are suitable for all church services, including
Christian Science. Both issued in two keys
HUNTZINGER &
Ave., New York
PUBLISHERS, PRINTERS AND ENGRAVERS OF MUSIC
Main Offices: 62-64 Stanhope St., Boston.
Branch Houses: New York and Chicago.
ROBERT TELLER SONS & DORNER
Music Engraver* and Printers
SEND MANUSCRIPT AND IDEA OF
TITLE FOR ESTIMATE
311 West 43d Street
New York City
"KHAKI BILL"
The Favorite Song of the National Army
WHEN SHADOWS
"EB'RY ROSE
Is Sweeter for de Rain"
Going by the thousands
The Dealers' Opportunity
€f)urrfj. Paxsfon attb Companp
TWO CONCERT BALLAD SUCCESSES
C. L. BARNHOUSE,
VICTOR DECEMBER RECORD
Sung by
J
0HN BARNES WELLS
Victor and • •
Columbia
Record
DARLIN"'
15 CENTS FOR A LIMITED TIME
CHICAGO
McKINLEY MUSIC CO.