The Great American Songbook. What Is It?

The Great American Songbook is not actually a book per se but rather a term used to describe the most popular collection of American Songs of the 20th Century. They are songs that originated in Broadway musicals, Hollywood movies and Tin Pan Alley. The most popular songwriters included in this genre are George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II, Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer among many others.

Of course, there are several collections of songs that have some version of The Great American Songbook in its title but know that they are just a small collection of songs that some publisher put together.