Великий американский песенник

«Great American Songbook» (букв. «Великий американский песенник») — переносное собирательное название популярных американских песен, написанных для бродвейских мюзиклов, голливудских кинофильмов и звукозаписывающих студий Tin Pan Alley с 1920-х по 1960-е годы. По определению американского радиоведущего Джонатана Шварца: «Этот музыкальный жанр - своего рода американская «классика» XX века». Помимо популярности, которую они заслужили среди своих современников, эти песни и по сегодняшний день остаются ключевым элементом репертуара джазовых (т.н. джазовый стандарт) и эстрадных музыкантов (т.н. эстрадный стандарт). Эпоха господства музыкального стиля, создавшего данные произведения, закончилась в 1960-е годы с началом периода рок-н-ролла.

Согласно данным фонда Great American Songbook Foundation:

«Великий американский песенник» - это канон американских популярных песен и джазовых стандартов начала 20 века, выдержавших испытание временем. Часто называемые «американским стандартом», песни, изданные во время Золотого века этого жанра, включают те популярные мелодии с 1920-х по 1950-е годы, которые были созданы для бродвейского театра и голливудского музыкального кино».

Американский музыковед Мартин Чилтон определяет термин «Великий американский песенник» следующим образом: «Мелодии бродвейского музыкального театра, голливудских мюзиклов и переулка Tin Pan Alley (центр музыкальной индустрии США начала ХХ века, который находился на 28-й западной улице Нью-Йорка), ставшие основным репертуаром джазовых музыкантов в период с 1920 по 1960 годы».

Хотя было опубликовано несколько музыкальных сборников под названием «Великий американский песенник», этот термин не относится к какой-либо реальной книге или конкретному списку песен. Песенник включает стандарты Джорджа Гершвина, Коула Портера, Ирвинга Берлина, Джерома Керна, Гарольда Арлена, Джонни Мерсера, Ричарда Роджерса и других.

В исследовании американского музыкального критика Алека Уайлдера «Американская популярная песня: великие новаторы, 1900–1950», опубликованном в 1972 году, автор перечисляет и ранжирует композиторов, принадлежащих, по его мнению, к канону «Великого американского песенника», делая основной упор на анализе их творчества.

В «Великий американский песенник» вошли следующие авторы и произведения:

Harold Arlen (with E.Y. Harburg):

"Over the Rainbow", "It's Only a Paper Moon"; 

with Ted Koehler: "Stormy Weather", "I've Got the World on a String", "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues", "Let's Fall in Love"; 

with Johnny Mercer "Blues in the Night", "That Old Black Magic", "One for My Baby", "Come Rain or Come Shine", "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive"; 

and with Ira Gershwin "The Man that Got Away"

Irving Berlin:

"Alexander's Ragtime Band", "When I Lost You", "How Deep Is the Ocean", "God Bless America", "White Christmas", "Always", "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody", "Blue Skies", "Cheek to Cheek", "Puttin' on the Ritz", "Let's Face the Music and Dance", "There's No Business Like Show Business", "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm"

Nacio Herb Brown with lyricist Arthur Freed:

"All I Do Is Dream of You", "Pagan Love Song", "Paradise", "Singin' in the Rain", "Temptation", "You Stepped Out of a Dream", "You Were Meant for Me", "Good Morning"

Hoagy Carmichael:

"Stardust", "Georgia on My Mind", "Lazy River", "The Nearness of You", "Heart and Soul", "Skylark"

Cy Coleman (with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh):

"Witchcraft", "The Best Is Yet to Come", "Hey, Look Me Over", "I've Got Your Number"; with lyrics by Dorothy Fields: "If My Friends Could See Me Now", "Big Spender"

Walter Donaldson, mostly with lyrics by Gus Kahn:

"My Baby Just Cares for Me", "My Blue Heaven", "Love Me or Leave Me", "Carolina in the Morning", "My Mammy", "What Can I Say After I Say I'm Sorry?", "Yes Sir, That's My Baby", "Makin' Whoopee", "You're Driving Me Crazy", "Little White Lies""

Vernon Duke:

"April In Paris", "Autumn In New York", "I Can't Get Started", "Taking a Chance on Love"

Duke Ellington:

"In a Sentimental Mood", "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)", "Satin Doll" (with Billy Strayhorn and Johnny Mercer), "Mood Indigo", "Sophisticated Lady", "Take the 'A' Train", "I'm Beginning to See the Light", "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"

Sammy Fain:

"I'll Be Seeing You", "That Old Feeling", "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing", "April Love", "Tender is the Night"

Dorothy Fields:

"I Can't Give You Anything But Love", "Exactly Like You", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "A Fine Romance", "Pick Yourself Up", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Big Spender", "If My Friends Could See Me Now"

George and Ira Gershwin:

"Someone to Watch Over Me", "'S Wonderful", "Summertime", "A Foggy Day", "But Not for Me", "Embraceable You", "I Got Rhythm", "Fascinating Rhythm", "The Man I Love", "They Can't Take That Away from Me", "Love Is Here to Stay", "Strike Up the Band"

Ray Henderson:

"Alabamy Bound", "Bye Bye Blackbird", "I'm Sitting on Top of the World", "The Birth of the Blues", "The Best Things in Life Are Free", "Sonny Boy", "You're the Cream in My Coffee"

Isham Jones with lyrics by Gus Kahn:

"It Had to Be You", "I'll See You in My Dreams"

Jerome Kern:

"A Fine Romance", "Pick Yourself Up", "The Way You Look Tonight"; with lyrics by Ira Gershwin "Long Ago (and Far Away)"; 

with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II "All the Things You Are", "The Folks Who Live On the Hill", "Ol' Man River", "The Song Is You"; 

with lyrics by Otto Harbach "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Yesterdays"

Lerner and Loewe:

"Almost Like Being in Love", "On the Street Where You Live", "I Could Have Danced All Night", "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face", "Thank Heaven for Little Girls"

Frank Loesser:

"If I Were a Bell", "Slow Boat to China", "Standing on the Corner", "Baby, It's Cold Outside", "Luck Be a Lady"

Jimmy McHugh:

"Don't Blame Me", "Exactly Like You", "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby", "I'm in the Mood for Love", "On the Sunny Side of the Street"

Johnny Mercer:

"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening", "Moon River" with Henry Mancini, "Fools Rush In", and "Days of Wine and Roses"; wrote music and lyrics for "Dream", "Something's Gotta Give", and "I Wanna Be Around"; wrote lyrics for "Midnight Sun", "Day In, Day Out", "Laura" and "I Remember You"

Cole Porter:

"Night and Day", "I've Got You Under My Skin", "Begin the Beguine", "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love", "What Is This Thing Called Love?", "Too Darn Hot", "Love for Sale", "You're the Top", "Just One of Those Things", "All of You", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye", "In the Still of the Night", "It's De-Lovely", "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", "I Concentrate on You", "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To", "So in Love", "Anything Goes", "You Do Something to Me", “Miss Otis Regrets”

Rodgers and Hart:

"Slaughter On 10th Avenue (ballet)", "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", "With a Song in My Heart", "Falling In Love With Love", "My Romance", "Have You Met Miss Jones?", "My Funny Valentine", "Blue Moon", "Blue Room", "I Could Write a Book", "It's Easy To Remember", "It Never Entered My Mind", "Manhattan", "The Lady Is a Tramp", "Little Girl Blue", "Mimi", "My Heart Stood Still", "Spring Is Here", "A Ship Without a Sail", "Thou Swell", "Lover", "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", "Isn't It Romantic?", "Where or When", "Glad to Be Unhappy", "You Took Advantage of Me", "This Can't Be Love", "Mountain Greenery", "You Are Too Beautiful"

Rodgers and Hammerstein:

"You'll Never Walk Alone", "Hello, Young Lovers", "Younger Than Springtime", "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'", "People Will Say We're in Love", "It Might as Well Be Spring", "If I Loved You", "Happy Talk", "Some Enchanted Evening", "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top", "I Have Dreamed", "Shall We Dance?", "My Favorite Things", "Something Wonderful", "Climb Every Mountain", "Edelweiss", "I Enjoy Being a Girl", "The Sound of Music", "A Wonderful Guy"

Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar:

"Who's Sorry Now?", "Thinking of You", "I Wanna Be Loved by You", "Three Little Words", "Nevertheless", "A Kiss to Build a Dream On"

Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz:

"Dancing in the Dark", "You and the Night and the Music", "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan", "Alone Together", "That's Entertainment!"

Jule Styne:

"Time After Time", "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry", "I Fall in Love Too Easily", "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", "People", "Don't Rain on My Parade", "Just In Time", "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)", "The Party's Over", "Everything's Coming Up Roses"

Jimmy Van Heusen, mostly with lyricists Johnny Burke and Sammy Cahn:

"All the Way", "Swinging on a Star", "Darn That Dream", "Polka Dots and Moonbeams", "But Beautiful", "Come Fly with Me", "Imagination", "Like Someone in Love", "Call Me Irresponsible", "I Thought About You", "Here's That Rainy Day", "It Could Happen to You", "(Love Is) The Tender Trap", "Ain't That a Kick in the Head"

Fats Waller:

"Ain't Misbehavin'", "Honeysuckle Rose", "Squeeze Me"

Harry Warren:

"At Last", "There Will Never Be Another You", "An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)", "I Had the Craziest Dream", "The More I See You", "42nd Street", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Lullaby of Broadway", "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me", "I Only Have Eyes for You", "Jeepers Creepers", "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", "September in the Rain", "Lulu's Back In Town", "You're My Everything", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", "This Heart of Mine", "You'll Never Know", "My Dream Is Yours", "Serenade In Blue", "Nagasaki", "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo", "That's Amore", "Innamorata"

Richard A. Whiting:

"Till We Meet Again", "The Japanese Sandman", "Miss Brown to You", "He's Funny That Way", "Ain't We Got Fun", "Guilty", "Breezin' Along with the Breeze", "Ukulele Lady", "Honey (Rudy Vallée song)", "I Can't Escape from You", "Hooray for Hollywood", "Beyond the Blue Horizon", "On the Good Ship Lollipop", "Too Marvelous for Words"

Jack Yellen, with Milton Ager:

"Ain't She Sweet", "Happy Days Are Here Again", "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)", "Glad Rag Doll", "Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp of Savannah)", "Louisville Lou (That Vampin' Lady)"; with Lew Pollack, "My Yiddishe Momme"

Vincent Youmans:

"Tea for Two", "Time on My Hands", "More Than You Know", "(The) Carioca", "Sometimes I'm Happy", "Without a Song", "I Want to Be Happy"

Victor Young:

"I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You", "Stella by Starlight", "Love Letters", "My Foolish Heart", "When I Fall in Love", "Around the World"

В 1970 году рок-музыкант Ринго Старр выпустил альбом под названием «Сентиментальное путешествие», состоящий из песен 1920-х, 1930-х и 1940-х годов. Несмотря на плохую и даже пренебрежительную критику, альбом достиг 22 места в чартах США  и 7 места в Великобритании  с продажами более 500 000 экземпляров.

Другие поп-певцы, начиная с Гарри Нильссона, выпустили альбомы, возрождающие песни из «Великого американского песенника». Линда Ронстадт, Род Стюарт и Боб Дилан сделали по несколько таких альбомов. Об альбоме Линды Ронстадт «What's New» (1983 года) - первом из трилогии стандартных альбомов, Стивен Холден из New York Times написал:

«Казалось бы ничего нового – это далеко не первый альбом рок-исполнителя, отдающего дань золотому веку поп-музыки, но это ... лучшая и серьезная попытка реабилитировать саму идею поп-музыки. В течение двух десятилетий, предшествовавших битломании, великие певцы-крунеры 40-50-х годов систематизировали полвека американских поп-стандартов на десятках альбомов, которые, к сожалению,  давно не издаются.