Setting The Standard: Stories From The Great American Songbook

Setting The Standard: Stories From The Great American Songbook

These are the songs you've been singing your whole life, but you might not know who wrote them... Setting the Standard: Stories from the Great American Songbook, a new podcast from Warner Chappell Music, BANG and Audiation, explores the stories behind some of the most influential and treasured songs ever written - the songs from the Great American Songbook. Replete with key interviews from a bevy of cultural icons such as Billy Corgan, Michael Feinstein, and Alan Bergman, this podcast grants the listener unparalleled access into the world of this formative era in music history. Hosted by Joe Levy of Rolling Stone, Billboard, and VH1, each episode focuses on a different legendary songwriter or team, using historical sources intertwined with new interviews with scholars, critics, and family members to tell the stories of their lives, filtered through the lens of their most iconic songs. Setting the Standard Official Companion Playlist: https://warnerchappellmusic.lnk.to/settingthestandard

Episodes

December 13, 2022 43 mins

“Over the Rainbow”, “Get Happy”, “Come Rain or Come Shine”. These are the songs you have been singing your whole life, and now is your chance to learn about who wrote them! In this week’s episode, travel somewhere over the rainbow into the singular mind of renowned composer Harold Arlen, a key contributor to the American Songbook whose hundreds of pop tunes became runaway hits during the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s. Arlen collab...

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“I Got Rhythm”, “Summertime”, “The Man I Love”. These are the songs you have been singing your whole life, and now is your chance to learn about who wrote them! In this week’s episode, the men you love are at the forefront: George and Ira Gershwin, brothers who sometimes seemed to write their hits with four hands and one brain. George’s gift for melody and Ira’s ability to seamlessly blend lyrical sophistication with the A...

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November 29, 2022 37 mins

“You’re the Top”, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, “Love for Sale”. These are the songs you have been singing your whole life, and now is your chance to learn about who wrote them! In this week’s episode, you’ll fall freely in love with Cole Porter, the master of melody and lyrics who changed the soundscape and language of American music - and America itself. Writing songs for over 30 stage and film musicals, his best work se...

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November 22, 2022 35 mins

“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly”, “Get Me to the Church on Time”, “If Ever I Would Leave You”. These are the songs you have been singing your whole life, and now is your chance to learn about who wrote them! This week’s episode is guaranteed to be “loverly”, as we dive headfirst into the life and times of Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe, one of the greatest songwriting teams in history responsible for the most stylish, sophi...

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November 15, 2022 48 mins

“Paper Moon”, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”, “Over the Rainbow”. These are the songs you have been singing your whole life, and now is your chance to learn about who wrote them! In this week’s episode, feast your ears on a wealth of knowledge as we pull back the curtain on Yip Harburg, “Broadway’s social conscience” who was unique among his peers for always integrating his worldviews into his shows and songs. From artic...

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November 8, 2022 49 mins

“Moon River”, “Days of Wine and Roses”, “Hooray for Hollywood”. These are the songs you have been singing your whole life, and now is your chance to learn about who wrote them! In this week’s episode, we say hooray and honor of the life of Johnny Mercer, preeminent songwriter whose poetic lyrics vividly captured the complexities of human experience. A four-time Oscar winner, Mercer was an incredibly versatile writer, with ...

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November 1, 2022 45 mins

“People”, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”. These are the songs you have been singing your whole life, and now is your chance to learn about who wrote them! In this week’s episode, everything’s coming up Jule Styne, one of the undisputed architects of American musical theater. Fast-talking and a relentless hustler, he was a highly adaptable, brilliant musician, composing the scores for Br...

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October 25, 2022 49 mins

“At Last”, “Lullaby of Broadway”, “That’s Amore”. These are the songs you have been singing your whole life, and now is your chance to learn about who wrote them! In this week’s episode, come along and listen as we take a deep dive into the life and times of Harry Warren, one of the most prolific composers and lyricists in American musical history. While others found fame and glory on Broadway, Warren worked primarily in m...

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A new podcast from Warner Chappell Music, BANG and Audiation, Setting the Standard: Stories from the Great American Songbook, cordially invites you to listen along as we answer the question: “Who wrote these classic songs”? From Johnny Mercer to Cole Porter to the Gershwins, join us as we dive headfirst into the lives of America’s musical greats and learn how their musicianship and storytelling would shape American culture...

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