“THE entire population of the United States could be turned into narcotic addicts if the same freedom was given the illicit narcotic ring as is now given the Yiddish popular song manufacturers. But in such a condition it would be stupid to attack the addicts; common sense would urge the exposure of the panderers.

“A dreadful narcotizing of moral modesty and the application of powerful aphrodisiacs have been involved in the present craze for popular songs — a stimulated craze. The victims are everywhere. But ministers, educators, reformers, parents, and public-spirited citizens are beginning to see the futility of scolding the young people thus diseased. Common sense dictates a cleaning out of the source of disease. The source is in the Yiddish group of song manufacturers who control the whole output and who are responsible for the whole matter from poetry to profits.

“Next to the moral indictment against the so-called ‘popular’ song is the indictment that it is not popular. Everybody hears it, perhaps the majority sings it; it makes its way from coast to coast; it is flung into the people’s minds at every movie and from every stage; it is advertised in flaring posters; phonograph records shriek it forth day and night, dance orchestras seem enamored with it, player pianos roll it out by the yard. And by sheer dint of repetition and suggestion the song catches on — as a burr thistle catches on; until it is displaced by another. There is no spontaneous popularity.

“It is a mere mechanical drumming on the minds of the public. There is often not a single atom of sentiment or spiritual appeal in the whole loudly trumpeted ‘success’: men and women, boys and girls have simply taken to humming words and tunes which they cannot escape, night or day. The deadly anxiety of ‘keeping up with the times’ drives the army of piano-owners to the music stores to see what is ‘going’ now, and of course it is the Yiddish moron music that is going, and so another home and eventually another neighborhood is inoculated.

“But there is no popularity. Take any moron music addict you know and ask him what was the ‘popular’ song three weeks ago and he will not be able to tell…”

— Henry Ford, The Dearborn Independent (1922)

— Comments —

Kathy G. writes:

And Ford wrote this in 1922!!!

Laura writes:

Our goose was cooked a long time ago.

Janice writes:

Interesting topic! The influencers of music that Henry Ford talked about were at it long before his era. He was probably one of the first, or the first to say so.

For example: Mozart was notably in the financial grip of the “impresario” Emanuel Schikaneder; one of many who controlled the content of the musicians of the day. (I never understood why Mozart wrote something as arcane as “The Magic Flute” until I knew who his handler was.)

As I peruse a very short list of songwriters down through modern history, I see many of them are members of that group Ford fingered:
Cole Porter – 1920’s
Weill and Brecht (of the Weimar era, Threepenny Opera fame) 1920’s
Irving Berlin – 1930’s
George Gershwin 1030’s
Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Peter Paul and Mary – 1940’s,
1950’s Lieber and Stoller( of modern rock and roll) 1940’s 50’s

Then the avalanche of the 60’s and beyond:

Bob Dylan
Burt Bacharach (although I confess a liking for his melodies)
Simon and Garfunkel
Carole King
The Mamas and the Papas
Neil Diamond John Denver (a big city guy who introduced us to the wonders of the wilderness, go figure)
Bobbie Gentry (ditto, except she was a female who introduced us to the awfulness of rural dwellers)
Carly Simon (of Simon and Schuster family fame)
Billy Joel
Don Henley and the Eagles
Freddy Mercury who introduced us to…uh…never mind…

I could go on but I think this is enough to back up the idea that Ford was on to something.

Laura writes:

Oh my goodness!

Who ever thought the Mamas and the Papas had something in common with Mozart!

Kidist Paulos Asrat writes:

Here is a post I wrote in 2008 on Wagner.

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