michael lasser is a lecturer, writer, broadcaster, critic and teacher about american music. college and has been lecturing on music and songs and america for about 30 years. so with that let me introduce michael lasser. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. i'm going to be treating songs as, in effect, documents. that is when you listen to a song from your own time, somehow it's a mirror on that time. it reflects the attitudes of that time. more about love than anything else. attitudes toward love and romance and sex and marriage obviously change over the first half of the 20th century in case you hadn't noticed, take my word for it. songs reflect that. but, for us, 100 years after the songs of world war i, those songs are not a mirror. they serve, instead, as a window and let us look back on what people were thinking and feeling and how they behave. songs are a particularly good way to get at it because they have no aspiration, really, beyond having you like it well enough to buy it. irving berlin said a good song is one that 1e8s. he was not simply saying i need

michael lasser is a lecturer, writer, broadcaster, critic, and teacher about american music. i've written it down, because he's written two books that i want to share with you and we have actually available after the lecture. he's in the process of writing a "america's songs ii" from the 1890s to the this is a companion piece to a book he wrote, co-author, "america's songs: the stories behind the songs of broadway, hollywood, and tinpan alley." he established himself as somewhat of a song bird here. i heard that he's not going to be singing here this evening. those who are here for that i'm sorry to disappoint you. he's now working on a book called "the song is us: love, lyrics, and american life, 1900-1950." so i'm looking forward to that fourth volume about, you know, the whole urban hip-hop thing that i know he's such an expert on. we'll look forward to hearing from him this afternoon. he's a graduate of dartmouth college. he's been a professor of rawlins college and has been lecturing on music and songs and america for about 30 years. so with that, let me introduce michae

so with that, let me introduce michael lasser. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. thanks a lot. thank you. i'm going to be treating songs as in effect documents. that is, when you listen to a song from your own time, somehow it's a mirror on that time. it reflects the attitudes of that time. more about love than anything else. but attitudes toward love and romance and sex and marriage obviously change over the first half of the 20th century. in case you hadn't noticed, take my word for it. songs reflect that. but for us, 100 years after the songs of world war i, those songs are not a mirror. they serve instead as a window, and let us look back on what people were thinking, and feeling, and how they behaved. and songs are a particularly good way to get at it because they have no aspiration really, beyond beyond liking you enough to want to have you buy it. irving berlin said a good song is one that sells. he's not simply saying i need more money, because he was a multimillionaire when he said it. what he was saying was that he trusted the judgments of the people. if you go out an

. >>> 100 years after the beginning of what was called the great war, author michael lasser looks backmusic of world war i. he demonstrates how songs reflected the wartime experiences of soldiers and those back home, from the sweethearts left behind to the soldiers returning from the front. and he argues that the music industry, including songwriters like irving berlin, contributed to the war effort by producing patriotic songs. this hour and 15-minute event was hosted by the president woodrow wilson house in washington, d.c. >>> good evening to all of you. i'm bob enholm, the executive director of the president woodrow wilson house national trust historic site. we're a private charity supported by the donations of supporters, including many of you. for that i thank you, and thanks for being here this evening. this home is the home to which president and mrs. wilson moved the very day they left the white house, on march 4th, in 1921. they both lived here the rest of their lives. president wilson passed away about three years later. mrs. wilson, remarkably, lived here until 1961. and th

so with that, let me introduce michael lasser. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. thanks a lot.nts. that is, when you listen to a song from your own time, somehow it's a mirror on that time. it reflects the attitudes of that time. more about love than anything else. but attitudes toward love and romance and sex and marriage obviously change over the first half of the 20th century. in case you hadn't noticed, take my word for it. songs reflect that. but for us, 100 years after the songs of world war i, those songs are not a mirror. they serve instead as a window, and let us look back on what people were thinking, and feeling, and how they behaved. and songs are a particularly good way to get at it because they have no aspiration really, beyond beyond liking you enough to want to have you buy it. irving berlin said a good song is one that sells. he's not simply saying i need more money, because he was a multimillionaire when he said it. what he was saying was that he trusted the judgments of the people. if you go out and buy my song for, whatever it costs, 15 cents sheet music, 79