"America, I Love You": Music and the Nation in 1915

TY - CONF

T1 - "America, I Love You"

T2 - 1915: Music, Memory, and the Great War

AU - Brooks, William

PY - 2015/3/10

Y1 - 2015/3/10

N2 - In 1915, America straddled the threshold between two worlds. In one there had been peace, progressivism, and agrarian certainties; in the one to come there would be conflict, radicalism, and industrial upheaval. But first, there was the dilemma posed by the Great War: neutrality or engagement? Archie Gottler, a struggling songwriter, also stood on a threshold. In the wake of the Lusitania Gottler wrote a carefully neutral, fervently patriotic song: “America, I love you.” The history of its extraordinary success, in publications, performances and recordings, parallels the transformation from patriotism to militance that characterized the nation as a whole.

AB - In 1915, America straddled the threshold between two worlds. In one there had been peace, progressivism, and agrarian certainties; in the one to come there would be conflict, radicalism, and industrial upheaval. But first, there was the dilemma posed by the Great War: neutrality or engagement? Archie Gottler, a struggling songwriter, also stood on a threshold. In the wake of the Lusitania Gottler wrote a carefully neutral, fervently patriotic song: “America, I love you.” The history of its extraordinary success, in publications, performances and recordings, parallels the transformation from patriotism to militance that characterized the nation as a whole.

KW - World War I

KW - Music

KW - Popular song

KW - Progressivism

KW - Archie Gottler

M3 - Paper

Y2 - 10 March 2015 through 11 March 2015

ER -