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Poet, anthologist and critic David Lehman performs another kind of reassessment in A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs,
the newest entry in the Jewish Encounters series from Nextbook and
Schocken, which pairs Jewish writers and subjects that deal with Jewish
culture. Basically, Lehman contends that songs from the Golden Age of
American songwriting (like “Embraceable You” and “Cheek to Cheek,”
which have become standards and were written by Jews) also tell the
story of what it was like to be a Jew in America. Lehman says he became
“convinced that I could present a unified phenomenon: the Jewish
masters of the 32-bar song from the point of view of a Jewish poet.
Where did they come from, and how did they transform their past into
the hit parade of modern America?” The result is a wonderfully
compelling and poetic analysis that re-envisions the American songbook.
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from "The Song Remains the Same"
by Craig Morgan Teicher, Publishers Weekly (September 7, 2009)
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6691928.html
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