'the Show Must Go On'

Download or read book 'the Show Must Go On' written by John Mullen and published by Lund Humphries Publishers. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using a collection of over one thousand popular songs from the war years, as well as around 150 soldiers' songs, John Mullen provides a fascinating insight into the world of popular entertainment during the First World War. He considers the position of songs of this time within the history of popular music, and the needs, tastes and experiences of their working-class audiences. He assesses the different genres of musical entertainment which were common in the war years and presents a subtle and nuanced approach to the nature of popular song, the ways in which audiences related to the music and the effects of the competing pressures of commerce, propaganda, patriotism, social attitudes and the progress of the war.