George M. Cohan published Give My Regards to Broadway and Yankee Doodle Boy both in 1904. My students had never even heard of Cohan, and one of them had never even heard of any of his songs. Not the two above. Not You’re a Grand Old Flag. Not Over There. Someone has neglected these urchins’ musical education.
My family watched the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney as George M. Cohan. Cagney won an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of the song and dance man, and I thought it was delightful film.
2 thoughts on “1904: Music”
Goodness! On the flipside, I have some of Cohen’s music in rotation on my iTunes list. I know many of his songs by heart. I did have the benefit of growing up in a house full of antiques and heard them played on either Edison phonographs or Victor victorlas. Old school Cohan!
Oh, that makes me sad to know kids today don’t know George M. Cohan’s music. I think I was thirteen when I first heard of him. I’d heard some of his songs before that, but I was in the hospital when I was thirteen and late one night “Yankee Doodle Dandy” was on. I LOVED it and I watch it every time it’s on TV. Cagney deserved every inch of that Oscar.
Goodness! On the flipside, I have some of Cohen’s music in rotation on my iTunes list. I know many of his songs by heart. I did have the benefit of growing up in a house full of antiques and heard them played on either Edison phonographs or Victor victorlas. Old school Cohan!
Oh, that makes me sad to know kids today don’t know George M. Cohan’s music. I think I was thirteen when I first heard of him. I’d heard some of his songs before that, but I was in the hospital when I was thirteen and late one night “Yankee Doodle Dandy” was on. I LOVED it and I watch it every time it’s on TV. Cagney deserved every inch of that Oscar.