English 494: Song Assignment
Due in class on October 2, 2018
Length: About as long as a blog post: 300 words (1-2 paragraphs), or not more than 1 1/2 double-spaced pages


Find a song from the 1920s (online is fine; see links below) and listen to it carefully. Write a typed paragraph or two about this song (not more than about 300 words or 1 1/2 double-spaced pages) and bring that written work to class on Tuesday to turn in. You’ll be presenting this song to the class on October 2.
If you want to collaborate with one or more people in the class, you choose a group or cluster of songs to discuss. You can use the 9/27 class time when we won’t be meeting to get together and discuss the songs before writing them up for the assignment.

You should plan to address some or all of these questions:

1. Note the title of the song, the principal musician, when (if you can tell) it was recorded, and so on. Indicate the site where you found it, if you found it online, so that we might be able to listen to it in class.
2. What genre (jazz, blues, ragtime, popular, novelty, dance music, etc.) do you think this song belongs to? Is it a love song, a protest song, a lament, or something else? 
3. What do the lyrics and music tell you? What is the song trying to convey thematically? What story is it telling? How does it fit into a 1920s context, or what does it reveal about 1920s culture? Does it make any allusions to 1920s themes or culture (like the Arrow Collar man or other icons)? 
4. Why did you choose this song instead of another one? What did you find compelling or appealing about it?

You can write about this song for your blog assignment, if you like, and print out your blog post to turn in for this assignment. You can also write about something else for your blog post and just bring your written response to the song. 

You can find some songs here:

http://www.redhotjazz.com
http://www.dismuke.org
Youtube
 Try searching 1920s music on Pandora or Spotify, or search for some of the artists of the era (Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Van and Schenck, Rudy Vallee, Ruth Etting, Paul Whiteman, etc.)