Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a radio announcer. My idols were disk jockeys Alan Freed, Murray the K, Wolfman Jack and Cousin Brucie. While my friends all wanted to be famous hockey players, I wanted to be like the late, great Danny Gallivan, calling hockey games from the CBC broadcast booth. In the 1960s, I would put a speaker in my bedroom window and “broadcast” music to my friends. I called my radio station CPJS, and tried to raise enough money to buy a small AM transmitter by selling “shares” in the station to my friends and family.
In 1970, my first year in college, I helped set up the college radio station and hosted the early morning show. I eventually became co-manager of the station but different career choices took me far from the microphones. I continued to collect records and occasionally I would put a couple of platters on the turntables in the basement and pretend I was on the air.
Internet radio has opened new opportunities for older people to return to broadcasting. A few weeks ago, Joe Troiano from Syracuse, N.Y., asked me if I would like to host a show on his new internet radio station, oldiesnmoreradio.com. I jumped at the chance. Now I can be heard live from 10 a.m. to noon EDT every Sunday. The show is called “Judy’s Diner” and I play a lot of great oldies from my collection. During a typical broadcast, I highlight one of the great artists, writing teams or producers from the era and I give listeners a little background story while playing their material.
While researching my shows, I noticed a common thread in many biographies. Almost all of my featured guests’ bios start this way, “He or she was born to Jewish parents in Brooklyn, N.Y.” or “He was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland (or Russia or Hungary).” “Her real name was Lesley Sue Goldstein” (Lesley Gore)” or “Jerome Felder, better known as Doc Pomus …”
In fact, for 10 weeks since launching the show, almost every featured artist who wasn’t African American was Jewish or at least had Jewish roots. The only show that didn’t feature a Jewish artist was about Elvis Presley, but even he was rumored to have one Jewish grandmother, and many of his greatest hits were written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two Members of the Tribe.
How did such a disproportionate number of Jewish souls end up in the music business? For the answer, we have to look back to when the Israelites safely crossed the Sea of Reeds: The first thing they did was sing about it. Take the Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs) for example. This composition may be the first-ever love song. Still sung today on the Sabbath during Passover, it, too, has survived the test of time to become a Jewish classic.
One of the most well-known songwriters and musicians in the Bible was King David. When he wasn’t doing kingly things, David was busy writing dozens of Psalms and playing his lyre.
Music was and is an integral part of Jewish life. In biblical times, music was performed at coronations, religious ceremonies and even played a role in warfare. It enchanted the royal court, enlivened weddings and family gatherings, and provided atmosphere during the festivals of the grape and grain harvests. Temple services included musical accompaniment even on the Sabbath and holidays.
In fact, for 10 weeks since launching the show, almost every featured artist who wasn’t African American was Jewish or at least had Jewish roots.
Some modern composers and singers have used biblical songs and verses in their own lyrics. Think of the legendary Leonard Cohen’s “Who by Fire,” from the Yom Kippur liturgy, and “Hallelujah.” On his last album, “You Want It Darker,” Cohen uses excerpts from the Rosh Hashanah prayer Hineni and the Kaddish Mourner’s Prayer.
In the Bob Dylan album “Highway 61 Revisited” the lyrics start with:
God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son” …
Well Abe says, “Where you want this killin’ done?
God says, “Out on Highway 61”
This stanza refers to Genesis 22, in which God commands Abraham to kill Isaac (albeit not on Highway 61).
The lyrics for “Turn, Turn, Turn” by Pete Seeger consist of the first eight verses of the third chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon and usually recited in the synagogue during Sukkot.
In the era of classical music, Wikipedia cites more than 240 Jewish classical composers. Probably most famous during the 19th century were Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47), whose most prominent public manifestation of his Judaism is the oratorio “Elijah”; and Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jacob Liebmann Beer, 1791-1864), the prolific operatic composer.
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. His music was a bridge between the 19th-century, Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century.
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) was an Austrian composer, music theorist, teacher, writer and painter. Widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century, he was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School. From 1936 to 1944, Schoenberg held a prestigious teaching position at UCLA.
In the early 1900s, Jewish entertainers started to make their mark on American popular culture. They excelled in stand-up, acting, directing and screenwriting, but it was in the music world where their talents truly came to the fore.
Leonard Bernstein, Otto Klemperer and André Previn blurred the boundaries between jazz, pop and classical music. But it was in the genre of pop music and movie scores where the proliferation of Jewish composers, musicians and singers made the biggest impact. We can thank George Gershwin for “Rhapsody in Blue,” “An American in Paris,” “Fascinating Rhythm,” the jazz standard “I Got Rhythm” and the opera “Porgy and Bess,” which featured the hit “Summertime.”
Irving Berlin was a Jewish composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history. His music forms a huge part of the Great American Songbook. Ironically, he is best known for his hit songs “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade.”
Jerome Kern, who grew up in Manhattan, composed such classics as “Ol’ Man River,” “A Fine Romance,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” “The Song Is You,” “All the Things You Are,” “The Way You Look Tonight” and “Long Ago (and Far Away).”
My internet show highlights popular music of the 1950s and 1960s. Although we cannot overlook the enormous contribution of African Americans on the Motown and Stax record labels, as well as the wonderful Italian doo-wop groups from Brooklyn and the Bronx, the heart of the music scene of that era was the famed Brill Building. Located in Manhattan, just north of Times Square, the Brill Building was famous for housing music industry offices and studios where some of the most popular American songs were written. It was the center of the American music industry that dominated the pop charts in the early 1960s.
No problem getting a minyan here. These are just a few of the song writers, lyricists and recording artists that made the Brill Building their home: Burt Bacharach and Hal David; Neil Diamond; Gerry Goffin and Carole King; Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller; Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil; infamous record producer Phil Spector (convicted of murder in 2009); Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry; Marvin Hamlisch; Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman; Neil Sedaka; Paul Simon; Leslie Gore; and Donald Fagen.
No recap of the story of Jewish contribution to modern music would be complete without mentioning Chess Records, a Chicago-based recording company founded by tribe members Leonard and Phil Chess. Chess records gave us Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf and the magnificent Etta James.
I have only scratched the surface; my musical tastes don’t include much that came after the 1960s. The contribution of the Jewish people to all genres of music far surpasses their ratio to the general population. It seems they have inherited their musical talents from generation to generation, and even when faced with the greatest of tragedies, they still manage to come through it all with a song.
Paul Starr is a retired systems analyst living in Montreal.
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