Songs are hits, today, because so many people hear them. Songs used to be hits because so many people played and sang them. But in those days, it took more than words and music to make a song a hit.In the first half of the 20th century, every clubhouse, ballroom, social hall, tavern, hotel, and ocean liner rang with live music. Many homes had a phonograph or a radio or both; but the most important music machine was the piano in the parlor. And displayed on the stand above the keyboard were song sheets with colorful covers from Tin Pan Alley. Seeing them, someone was sure to pick one up and exclaim, “Oh! Let’s play this one!”Some of Tin Pan Alley’s most creative people worked not on a piano but on an easel; they used pen and ink not for writing notes and lyrics, but for making art. The song was the steak, but the colorful cover of the sheet music was the sizzle that sold it.Once ubiquitous, songsheets are now primarily the province of dedicated collectors. But we—myself and my co-editors: collector-scholar Norman von Holtzendorff and writer Wyatt Doyle—are hoping to change that with our new, lavishly illustrated book, published by New Texture, that showcases the work of one
