Unit 7: Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945
United/Divided | War & Peace | Work | Home | Moving Along | Faith & Ideals
United/Divided
“Happy Days Are Here Again”
Words Jack Yellen, music Milton Ager, 1929
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s campaign song
Lyric source | Recording | Recording online
“Which Side Are You On?”
Florence Reece, tune of the hymn “Lay the Lily Low,” 1931
The Almanack Singer’s union organizing song, written during a coal strike in 1931
Lyrics | Recording
“I’m Marching Down Freedom Road”
Words Langston Hughes, music Emerson Harper, 1942
Civil rights song from the World War II era
Lyric source | Recording
War and Peace
“Der Fuhrer’s Face”
Oliver Wallace, 1942
Humorous song mocking Adolf Hitler, the unofficial most popular song of the war
Lyrics | Recording | Recording online
“The Slip of a Lip”
Luther Henderson, 1942
Duke Ellington’s popular song to encourage compliance with security regulations
Recording
“Gee, Ma, I Want to Go Home”
Lt. Gitz Rice, 1940s
An adaptation of a British World War I song became a camp favorite ofAmerican GI’s
Lyric source 1 | Lyric source 2 | Recording
Work
“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”
Jimmie Cox, 1922
Blues tune sung by Bessie Smith in 1929 became an anthem of the Great Depression
Lyrics | Recording | Recording online
“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime”
Words Edgar Y. Harburg, music Jay Gorney, 1932
A World War I veteran laments being reduced to an unemployed panhandler
Lyric source | Recording | Recording online
“Seven Cent Cotton, Forty Cent Meat”
Music Bob Miller, words Emma Dermer, c. 1930
A lamentation for farmers suffering terribly from deflated prices for agricultural goods
Lyrics | Recording
“Rosie the Riveter”
Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, 1942
Women turned war plant workers are made heroes in song and popular culture
Lyric source (full score) | Recording | Recording online
Home
“Hobo’s Lullaby”
Goebel Reeves, c. 1930
The reality of homelessness during the Depression is vividly portrayed in this lullaby
Lyric Source | Recording
“Roll on Columbia”
Words Woody Guthrie, based on Huddie Ledbetter’s “Goodnight, Irene,” 1936
Guthrie celebrates Rural Electrification Act’s Columbia River Dam project
Lyric source | Recording
“Duration Blues”
Johnny Mercer, 1944
A good-natured complaint about home-front rationing “for the duration” of World War II
Lyric source | Recording
Moving Along
“Do, Re, Mi”
Woody Guthrie, 1935
Dust Bowl migrants reaching the California border often had to pay bribes to get in
Lyrics | Recording
“Chattanooga Choo-choo”
Words Mack Gordon, music Harry Warren, 1941
Glenn Miller’s big band number capturing the romance of passenger travel by train
Lyrics | Recording | Recording online
Faith and Ideals
“Whistle While You Work”
Words Larry Morey, music Frank Churchill, 1937
A cheerful interpretation of the work ethic from Disney’s animated feature “Snow White”
Lyric source | Recording | Recording online
“God Bless America”
Irving Berlin, 1938
Singer Kate Smith introduced this popular patriotic song on Armistice Day 1938
Lyric source 1 (Kate Smith recording online) | Lyric source 2 | Recording
“You’ll Never Walk Alone”
Music Richard Rodgers, words Oscar Hammerstein II, 1945
This song from the musical “Carousel” expressed Americans’ hope at the end of the war
Lyric source | Recording | Recording online
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