Talk:Great American Songbook: Difference between revisions

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When sorting the list by year, we see that the last songs on the list are from 1968. That seems to be an unofficial “cutoff date.” Why? While the list is “loosely defined,” some discussion about this might shed more light on why a song can or can’t be included in the list.

An interesting aside: Richard Rodgers has more songs on the list than anyone else (53). 2601:281:D87C:11C0:6410:CE66:6D6F:A0D3 (talk) 06:23, 16 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, I think there should be some reference-based “cut-off”. At the moment this just looks like someone’s opinion. Surely Wilder’s definitive reference volume could stand? Stevouk (talk) 10:39, 4 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The list actually goes up to 1973, but nothing beyond that. I’m curious if any references about the Songbook have delineated why no rock and roll recordings are included, for example, and why 1973 was the cutoff. There’s a Glen Campbell song on there but it could be argued there are other Campbell songs that might be more worthy of inclusion (Gentle on My Mind, for example). And one could argue any number of songs post-dating 1973 would be worth inclusion in what was a very subjective list to begin with. (some of the biggest omissions being songs from the musicals Cabaret and Chicago, along with “New York New York”, based on the criteria established). 2604:3D09:1F74:1C00:D565:403C:96E2:8DE3 (talk) 14:41, 20 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Gentle on My Mind is country, not pop. The Chicago musical has not generated scores of covers over the years as have those of Rodgers, Hart, Hammerstein, Porter, Gershwin, Loewe, etc. have. Dogru144 (talk) 03:13, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

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Change “Linda Ronstadt (1983 though 1986)” to “Linda Ronstadt (1983 through 1986)” Williamwikiwesthoff (talk) 17:40, 21 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

 Done meamemg (talk) 18:02, 21 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Any reason I shouldn’t add a few songs from West Side Story?? (It’s not an opera!)–David Couch (talk) 06:43, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If there have been scores of covers of the song recorded individually, apart from the play/movie. Somewhere qualifies; few others from the musical production do.Dogru144 (talk) 02:56, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Particularly from the 1930s to the early 1960s there were many songs that began as French or Spanish language songs (in the case of the latter, usually from Cuba or Mexico) that entered the American songbook, such as Beyond the Sea (song) and Perfidia –in these two cases, having been translated into English. Have become American songbook standards, but were not composed by people living in America at the time of composition.Dogru144 (talk) 02:29, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]