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| Hy Zaret |
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters, who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The name originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. One of the leading Tin Pan Alley songwriters to the mid 1950s was the lyricist Hy Zaret. In keeping with the theme of this blog, below we will briefly look at Hy Zaret and his little known contribution to the American Cold War efforts.
Who was Hy Zaret?
Hyman Harry Zaritsky was born August 21, 1907, in New York City. His parents were Russian emigres Max and Dora Zaritsky, who had emigrated to the U.S. in the 1890s. He began working as a song lyricist in the 1930s and changed his last name to Zaret in 1934. During World War II, he joined the U.S. Army and became an official song writer for the U.S. Army Special Services.
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| Lou Singer |
According to Edit Fowke and Joe Glazer, who wrote the book Songs of Work and Freedom:
In 1947, Hy Zaret and Lou Singer wrote their now-famous Little Songs on Big Subjects. Originally commissioned as Public Service ‘spot announcements’ for radio station WNEW in New York City, the songs were recorded by ‘The Jesters’ and immediately caught listeners’ fancy. The Institute of Democratic Education then made the records available to other radio stations, and within a few months they had played over five hundred stations throughout the country. Since then, these ‘Mother Goose Songs of Democracy’ have been heard on the air more than a hundred thousand times, have been praised by leading educators across the country, and have won a variety of awards and citations.
Zaret and Singer wrote the following copyrighted songs for the 1958 Crusade for Freedom fund-raising campaign in support of Radio Free Europe:
- Radio Free Europe
- Crusade for Freedom
- March of the Truth Dollars
- Freedom is not Free
The 1958 songs were used by the Advertising Council for nation-wide radio public service announcements recorded by then entertainment personalities such as Arthur Godfrey, Steve Allen, Eddie Fisher, and Dinah Shore.
Here are the lyrics for RADIO FREE EUROPE and MARCH OF THE TRUTH DOLLARS:
1. RADIO FREE EUROPE
What does it say?
What does it do?
It cracks the Iron Curtain
And lets the truth get through
RADIO FREE EUROPE
How does it work?
What does it prove?
It proves the Iron Curtain cannot keep out the truth.
RADIO FREE EUROPE cracks the Iron Curtain.
It gives a captive people a chance to hear the truth.
Listen to the Zaret and Singer song RADIO FREE EUROPE:
2. MARCH OF THE TRUTH DOLLARS
We swing along and sing a song of “freedom for all”
We are the Truth Dollars
Like little drops of water we can crumble a wall
We are the Truth Dollars
Behind the Iron Curtain we are giving them the truth
On Radio Free Europe we are speaking up for you
Freedom’s indivisible, so get on the ball
Send in your Truth Dollars.
Listen to their song MARCH OF THE TRUTH DOLLARS:
His most famous song (in collaboration with Alex North for the 1955 movie "Unchained") is "Unchained Melody" that has appeared in movies (including an Academy Award nomination) and been recorded, sung, or played by countless singers and music groups, including the Righteous Brothers, Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, U2, as well as by the Boston Pops and London Symphony orchestras. In 1984, Hy Zaret was inducted into the Song Writers Hall of Fame.
His most famous song (in collaboration with Alex North for the 1955 movie "Unchained") is "Unchained Melody" that has appeared in movies (including an Academy Award nomination) and been recorded, sung, or played by countless singers and music groups, including the Righteous Brothers, Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, U2, as well as by the Boston Pops and London Symphony orchestras. In 1984, Hy Zaret was inducted into the Song Writers Hall of Fame.
Hy Zaret died July 2, 2007. Lou Singer died December 28, 1966.
For more information
Hy Zaret’s papers, songs, and correspondence, 1937 - 2003, are stored in the archives of The Great American Songbook Foundation, Carmel, Indiana.
Audio and lyrics of the song Radio Free Europe are courtesy of The Great American Songbook Foundation, with permission of the families of Hy Zaret and Lou Singer, the Musical Sales Corporation, Argosy Music Corporation, and Helen Blue Musique
Audio and lyrics of the song Radio Free Europe are courtesy of The Great American Songbook Foundation, with permission of the families of Hy Zaret and Lou Singer, the Musical Sales Corporation, Argosy Music Corporation, and Helen Blue Musique
