Most important songs 1900-1959 (HURRY please!!!)

Cafe Society
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So my friend has requested my help for a small project. She’s a 5th grade teacher assigning her kids songs that are important/controversial/popular for each decade from the 1900s to the 1950s. The emphasis is on the important/controversial part.

She only wants a couple of songs for each decade, so picking and choosing is probably the hardest part (Especially for the 50s!!!). Here’s the list I came up with. Let me know if you guys have any other good ideas:

1900s:
Maple Leaf Rag - Scott Joplin (pub. 1899, but whatever)
Sweet Adeline - Gerard/Armstrong (pub. 1903)

Aside from being popular songs, I feel like both of these show how important published music was back then. It also shows how amateurs liked to preform the pieces at parties.

1910s:
The Preacher And The Slave - Joe Hill (1911)
Memphis Blues - W.C. Handy (1912)
Over There - George M. Cohan (comp. 1917)

The first for the social message, the second for the musical importance, the third for the popularity and pro-war sentiment.

1920s:
Potato Head Blues - Louis Armstrong (1927)
Rhapsody In Blue - Gershwin (1924)

These are both obvious, but I still feel like I’m missing an important recording for this decade…

1930s:
Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson (1937)
Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? - Hapburg/Gorney (1931)
Sing, Sing, Sing - Benny Goodman (1938 from the Carnegie Hall Concert)

The first for the musical importance, the second because of the social importance, the third for its importance to musical history.

1940s:
Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday (1939, but it gained fame in the 40s)
Koko - Charlie Parker (1945)
This Land Is Your Land - Woody Guthrie (1940)

Strange Fruit is about lynching. Koko is perhaps the most important bop recording. The Guthrie tune shows the voice of Americans in favor of socialism/communism.

1950s:
Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis (1956)
Take Five - Brubeck/Desmond (1959)
So What - Miles Davis (1959)

Ok. I’m showing my colors here. The Elvis one is obvious. Take Five is because of its popularity and because it was the first commercially viable song in 5/4. So What because of its importance to music history.
I feel bad leaving out Chuck Berry, Duke Ellington, and several other important American musical figures. But, that’s why I’m posting this here. Let me know what you guys think! And can anyone come up with a landmark classical work that should be on this list? I know that I could have put Schoenberg on here, but I felt like it didn’t fit the mold.

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Are you familiar with the NPR 100?

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I notice all of your suggestions are American. Are you specifically looking for American works, or are you going worldwide?

I suspect the most “landmark” classical work of the 1900-1959 time period is Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.”

I notice you don’t have any songs on your list from Broadway musicals or movies. I don’t know whether or not this is a serious omission.

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Oh wow. Yeah -I should have clarified that. I’m looking for AMERICAN suggestions.

The composers/performers can come from any country, but the songs/compositions need to have relevance to U.S. history or music history.

Good suggestion!

“Sweet Adeline”, “Over There”, and “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?” all found their way into movies and/or on stage, but you’re right. The omission was not on purpose, but I’m unaware of any specific song that is important/controversial from Broadway, only those that are popular.

I considered something from Porgy And Bess (1930s) but I already have “Cross Road Blues”, which expresses similar sentiments but also features (one of) the most influential blues guitar player in American history.

If you can suggest something I’ll definitely consider putting it on the list.

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Written in 1904 by George M. Cohan (who is already represented in “Over There”), “Give My Regards to Broadway” is probably one of the more important/lasting Broadway hits of the decade. IMHO, you should at least include one B’way song.

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“Yes, we have no bananas”? :wink:

For the 1930’s (published in 1929, however), you can do worse than FDR’s 1932 campaign theme song “Happy Days are Here Again”.

Also, don’t forget “Over The Rainbow”!

Here’s a list of “Songs of the Century” as put out by the RIAA: Songs of the Century - Wikipedia. Looks like your list doesn’t include “White Christmas”, which was (and might still be) the best selling song of all time, with anywhere from 50-100 million copies sold (in all formats, not just singles).

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For the 1950’s, I’d choose Rock Around the Clock, by Bill Haley, over any Elvis recording, in terms of importance. It is usually credited with starting the R N R era.

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Great! This one can easily make the list, as I only have two other entries for the 1900s.

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All great suggestions!

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Yeah. I was tossing that one over in my head. Any other votes for Bill Haley over Elvis?

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Also written in the 1900’s:

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I think the 40’s list is kind of weak - where’s “In The Mood”, or “God Bless America”? (I guess that last might be a 1930’s song, but I associate it with WW2).

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Hmm… good suggestion, given the cultural relevance. We’ll see if I can fit it into the “final cut”.

Both good suggestions, but these songs are only famous for their popularity, not their importance IMHO. Besides, “This Land Is Your Land” is in response to “God Bless America”, so if it makes the list the students will still be aware of the historical context of BOTH songs.
**
By the way (to everyone), I’ll likely give her all of your suggestions that don’t make the final list, so don’t take it personally if I disagree with you.**

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Here are some more nominations. I’ll spread it over several postings. . .

Undetermined Year:

We Shall Overcome

1900s:

The Entertainer - a very popular rag from near the end of Scott Joplin’s career
In My Merry Oldsmobile - one of the first car songs, written to commemorate the Detroit-to-Portland overland race that was won by a curved-dash Oldsmobile.
Take Me out to the Ball Game - already nominated. I should note that it wasn’t a big hit when it was first written. Also, the lyricist (Jack Norworth) had never seen a baseball game when he wrote this song.
Casey Jones

Teens

Alexander’s Ragtime Band - Irving Berlin’s first big hit.
St. Louis Blues - Someone else already nominated Memphis Blues, which was the first published blues song. St. Louis Blues is far more popular, though.
Livery Stable Blues/Original Dixieland One-Step - These two were the first recorded jazz numbers, by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917.
Swanee - Gershwin’s first big hit

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20s:

Charleston - A hugely popular song that influenced songwriting and performing for years. The Charleston rhythm was used in many other hits, such as Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue and Sweet Georgia Brown. Many bandleaders incorporated this rhythm into their sound, even for songs that weren’t originally intended that way.

West End Blues - Someone else nominated Potato Head Blues, which was also by Louis Armstrong. Both of these had a big influence on jazz performance and composition.

Black Bottom Stomp = One of the best-known of Jelly Roll Morton’s compositions.

East St. Louis Toodle-oo - Duke Ellington’s first hit.

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Damn, beat me to it! It was always my understanding that “West End Blues” was really the start of the modern era of jazz, so I was surprised to see a different Louis number for the 20s.

My other problem with this list is that it totally omits an extremely important strain of American music, country. Not surprising, as it’s usually given short shrift, but country music was important to white Southern audiences (and more) from the 20s forward as blues and jazz was to black audiences.

Rather than two jazz compositions (as important as they both are) in the decade of the 50s, it would be more fair to have a Hank Williams song as the third selection. I suppose “Hey, Good Lookin’” or “Your Cheatin’ Heart” would be the better-known ones, but for sheer quality and poetry, I would pick “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”

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I would go for a Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly song over either Haley or Elvis. Haley’s song was written by a Tin Pan Alley songwriter, Elvis’s by a non-performing country songwriter. Nothing wrong with that, but the biggest revolution in popular music of the 50s (and especially 60s) was the concept of singers writing their own songs as opposed to professional songwriters.

Maybe this isn’t relevant if it’s truly a song you’re looking for and its back story doesn’t matter, but I would argue at the same time that a Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly song ultimately might have had a larger influence on songs to come than anything by Haley or Elvis. (Berry on anyone who ever picked up an electric guitar to rock, and Holly on The Beatles and so many others.)

I tend to shun the most popular examples, but it wouldn’t be a crime if you went with “Johnny B. Goode” or “That’ll Be the Day,” I suppose.

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As to the '20s, I would go with Armstrong’s St. James Infirmary over Potato Head Blues. As to the '30s, I would definitely work in Ellington’s Take the A Train.

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Make sure you get the original 1908 version including the first verse!

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Even though Showboatdid it earlier and (IMHO) better, *South Pacific *addressed racial prejudice head-on and boiled the subject down into one song, “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught.”

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Happy Birthday to You

Not sure exactly which decade that belongs in. Good Morning to All dates back to 1893. Happy Birthday to You first appeared in print in 1912 and was registered for copyright in 1935. Read the link for information on the current status of the copyright.

Or is that a little too legalistic for 5th graders?