Bureau of Libraries and Periodicals A.E.F., Y.M.C.A. Popular Songs of the A.E.F. Paris: [Salabert?], 1918.

From the Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection.

War Songs for Home Singing. Philadelphia: The North American, 1918.

Gift of Patrick Scott to the Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection.

 

Carr, Howard, Harry Russell, and Jimmie Havens. We Don't Want the Bacon--What We Want Is a Piece of the Rhine! Chicago: Arcade, 1918.

From the Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection.

Cohan, George M. Over There. New York: William Jerome, 1917.

From the Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection.

Over There (1)

By 1914, Tin Pan Alley, New York's "Street of Songs, " was in full swing. At the beginning of the "war to end all wars," sheet music publishing had entered its heyday. American songwriters churned out over 30,000 new pieces during the war, and publishers fueled national fervor with pleas on sheet music covers to "Buy United States War Savings Bonds." Some copyright holders even donated proceeds to the war effort, a move which combined equal parts patriotic spirit and marketing savvy.

The enormous output of popular song in both this war and World War II shared common themes: praise for the bravery of our fighting troops; pride for traditional symbols of freedom like the "Grand Old Flag;" and the duties of citizenship, whether in armed service or on the home front. Further bolstering wartime sentiments, songwriters caricatured the enemy in derisive songs.