From Saginaw Valley to Tin Pan Alley: Saginaw's Contribution to American Popular Music, 1890-1955

Abstract

Most people wouldn't know to make a connection between Saginaw, Michigan and Tin Pan Alley, a name synonymous with the popular music industry and where New York music publishing houses were clustered together. Many might even wonder where Saginaw is. Located on the Saginaw River and at the base of Michigan's thumb, this former world lumber capital turned out a surprisingly large number of popular songwriters between 1890 and 1955, helping the American popular music publishing industry gain its reputation as a provider of music for all Americans to enjoy. From Saginaw Valley to Tin Pan documents the work of more than 60 popular songwriters who hailed from Saginaw. Among the greatest of the Saginaw songwriters were Charles K. Harris (After the Ball, Break the News to Mother, and Hello, Central, Give Me Heaven), Dan Russo (Toot Toot Tootsie, Goodbye), Gerald Marks (All of Me, Is it True What They Say About Dixie?), Ange Lorenzo (Sleepy Time Gal), Isham Jones (It Had to Be You, I'll See You in My Dreams, Swingin' Down the Lane, The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else, On the Alamo) and Ben Weisman (Paper Roses, Honey in the Horn). R. Grant Smith provides background information and anecdotes about the most famous songwriters and their most important songs. For example, when young Danny Russo would hit a sour note while practising the violin in the back of his family's fruit market, his father would good-naturedly toss a lemon at him. Extensive appendices list over 1300 documented songs, including the year each was first published. More than 70 sheet music covers dating from between 1890 and 1955 are interposed with the narrative, adding to the book's charm and historic value. Smith researched this music era thoroughly, using as a resource a number of scholarly and popular publications. He visited countless antique shops and antique shows, sorting through thousands of pieces of sheet music, and interviewed songwriters from Saginaw and other individuals familiar with Saginaw's contributions to the music of Tin Pan Alley and the musical heritage of America. Although its vast forests of pine are now depleted, Saginaw's legacy of songs which so many have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, still remain.