American Music Post Pearl Harbor Incident
Popular Music after the
Pearl Harbor Incident
In this essay I will be writing about the music listened to in the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor in order to figure out how music has played a role in recovery or any other such matter after the crisis, because it would be interesting to see if there is a correlation to how we view music after crises of the present. Crises are occurrences in our lives where our ordinary train of thought becomes somewhat chaotic and disorientated. C. Murray Parks considers this a change in one’s assumptive world. These changes to one’s self can be considered important or unimportant depending on one’s own assumptive world (Parks 103). Once one determines the importance of the crisis, one can then try to deal with the changes in their own assumptive world, and in our case would be with music. In the following paragraphs I would like to consider the different popular songs of the 1940’s after the incident of Pearl Harbor and how each one of them may or may not portray a positive change towards ones assumptive world after a large scale crisis. In doing so we can compare such message in relation to how one may feel or want to feel towards crises in general. Finally, I would like to wrap up with a comparison or evolution of the crises music of today. First off, the Pearl Harbor incident struck on December 7th 1941. This took the United States by surprise and caused major emotions to flow from its citizens. To many this was a national crisis. After the incident, musicians banded together through the tragic incident and created songs. Most of the popular genre of music at the time consisted of jazz, swing, and big band (Orchestra). The first song that came out only ten days after the incident was the song “Remember Pearl Harbor” by Don Reid. Being of the popular genres of the time, the melody and tempo of the song is really up beat (Reid 1942). The lyrics of the song state, “Let 's remember Pearl Harbor / As we go to
Pearl Harbor Incident
In this essay I will be writing about the music listened to in the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor in order to figure out how music has played a role in recovery or any other such matter after the crisis, because it would be interesting to see if there is a correlation to how we view music after crises of the present. Crises are occurrences in our lives where our ordinary train of thought becomes somewhat chaotic and disorientated. C. Murray Parks considers this a change in one’s assumptive world. These changes to one’s self can be considered important or unimportant depending on one’s own assumptive world (Parks 103). Once one determines the importance of the crisis, one can then try to deal with the changes in their own assumptive world, and in our case would be with music. In the following paragraphs I would like to consider the different popular songs of the 1940’s after the incident of Pearl Harbor and how each one of them may or may not portray a positive change towards ones assumptive world after a large scale crisis. In doing so we can compare such message in relation to how one may feel or want to feel towards crises in general. Finally, I would like to wrap up with a comparison or evolution of the crises music of today. First off, the Pearl Harbor incident struck on December 7th 1941. This took the United States by surprise and caused major emotions to flow from its citizens. To many this was a national crisis. After the incident, musicians banded together through the tragic incident and created songs. Most of the popular genre of music at the time consisted of jazz, swing, and big band (Orchestra). The first song that came out only ten days after the incident was the song “Remember Pearl Harbor” by Don Reid. Being of the popular genres of the time, the melody and tempo of the song is really up beat (Reid 1942). The lyrics of the song state, “Let 's remember Pearl Harbor / As we go to
Cited: Lane, Burton and Harburg, Yip. “The Son of a Gun Who Picks On Uncle Sam.” Performed by Carl Hoff. Okeh 6609. 1941. http://www.authentichistory.com/1939-1945/3-music/04-PH-Reaction/19411223_The_Son_Of_A_Gun_Who_Picks_On_Uncle_Sam-Carl_Hoff.html Luther, Frank. "Remember Pearl Harbor." Performed by Carson Robison. Bluebird B-11414-A. 1941. http://www.authentichistory.com/1939-1945/3-music/04-PH-Reaction/19411200_Remember_Pearl_Harbor-Carson_Robison.html Miller, Bob. “We 're Gonna Have To Slap, The Dirty Little Jap (And Uncle Sam 's the Guy who can do it).” Preformed by Carson Robinson. Bluebird B-11414-B. 1941 http://www.authentichistory.com/1939-1945/3-music/04-PH-Reaction/19411200_Were_Gonna_Have_to_Slap_The_Dirty_Little_Jap-Carson_Robison.html Murray Parkes, C. "Psycho-social Transitions: A Field for Study." Social Science & Medicine (1967) 5.2 (1971): 101-15 Reid, Don. “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Performed by Sammy Kaye. Victor 27738-A. 1941