SONG HITS.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10710, 6 October 1928, Page 11

SONG HITS.

HOW TO WRITE THEM. THOUSANDS' GO TO ENGLAND. Have you ever thought it curious that all the songs of the moment invariably hail from across the Atlantic? '■ • I mean, one might almost imagine that only Americans can write good jazz music. There are big corporations on Broadway employing dozens of song writers; although their methods might well bring distress to Gilbert and Sullivan. \ *' For instance, the words are written to the music, seldom, the music to the words, a procedure productive of the best results, lam told, in the English language, says a London writer. The Lyric writer then steps in and jots down a dummy rhythm—just any words that fit the music. Then he goes away into, the- lyric writing department and produces his little verse . Few—they tell 'me—of the great song successes of the day are the result of pure inspiration. This, then, is the birth of the song. So far, hot so bad. The trouble arises when these songs are shipped across the Atlantic, just like so much crockery or hardware and dumped in London. The firms here who work in association with the New York houses simply sell the copies on a percentage basis: that is no risk; they all “sell like hot cakes!” I sympathise most completely with the point of view of the enterprising London publishing ,houses. ‘rtVhy should wo want to publish songs by English writers when we can get more than we want without any trouble at all from America ?” Behind each move in this vast business of selling the public songs moves the shadow of the “ballyhoo” merchant. It is he who- arranges with the producers of a certain show that they can have the exclusive- performing rights of a certain mpn'ber on the condition that they “plug” it not less than fourteen times during each performance. It is he who writes those luscious lines that compare “Wow” Glooper with Wagner, to the discredit of the latter. It is he who arranges that an army of music hall artists shall sing “Green Skies Lead to Heaven. Darling,” wherever they go. Ah! there are some men with high ideals in the world of music these days I can tell you. I know of one man who, in the sacred cause of art, swore to sell 50,’000 copies of a single song in one month. And he did! Yes, he did it; in face of every difficulty. Who can but envy those oT the theatre who work in close association with men of such high purpose ?