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Archive 7

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“THE RISE AND FALL OF SWING”!!

During World War II, swing became even more popular than ever – but like all music, it was changing.  Glenn Miller was one of the bandleaders that made it change.  Miller was the most famous bandleader of the early 1940s.  In the mainstream music from the time, his songs, including “In the Mood” and “Pennsylvania 6-5000,” are still the most well-remembered tunes of the swing era.  But Miller’s rise to prominence signaled a new development in swing.  His music was more “catchy” than ambitious, and it brought swing further and further away from its roots in jazz and its ties to African-Americans.  While swing’s lyrics previously reflected the uptown urban experience, Miller’s lyrics were more about nostalgic images of small-town America.  For example, the “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” didn’t stop in Harlem – you had to “Take The A Train” to get there.

Glenn Miller’s childhood home in Clarinda, Iowa (a small town).

As Americans fought WWII, Miller’s music took on a deep meaning for both civilians and soldiers.  In 1942, Miller gave up his money-making orchestra, enlisted in the Army and started his own military band. 

Miller boosted morale by playing for troops throughout Europe.  Swing, began to be seen as a representation of the values America was fighting for.  As President Franklin Roosevelt said at the time, swing music “inspire[d] a fervor for the spiritual values in our was of life and . . . strengthen[ed] democracy.”  (Side note by Nellee: would President Bush say this about Rap??).  Movie stars Betty Grable (left below, in her most famous pin-up pose) and popular pin-up (below cente) Rita Hayworth (who both married swing bandleaders, Harry James and Artie Shaw, respectively) and swing singer Lena Horne (right below, entertaining navy troops) became the most popular pinups. 

The Andrews Sisters had a hit with “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”

The Nazis labeled jazz “nigger-jew” music (and tried to force their own brand of substitute “swing” on their captive audience) swing (as later depicted in the movie “Swing Kids”).

The real German Swing Kids           German Poster for the 1993 Movie

But, in response to the Nazis, swing became an anti-Fascist symbol. 

During the war, American soldiers turned Europeans on to swing music as never before (posters like the one above probably helped).  However, the boys overseas generally wanted to hear the songs they already knew from home, not new tunes.  When Miller died in an airplane crash in 1944, he was hailed as a hero.  But his music was seen by some (like Artie Shaw) as a harbinger of a change in swing from improvisation to mechanization.  They weren’t quite right, as we will soon see...

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