WILLIAM H. PECK

Egypt in Tin Pan Alley

 

 From about 1900 to the mid 1920s there seems to have been a great interest in publishing popular music with a Middle Eastern (and especially an Egyptian) theme. Here are some examples.

 

Rose of Egyptland, 1919 by Harold B. Freeman, seems to be self-published since the author and the company are the same. 

 

My Cairo Maid, 1917 lyrics by de Sylva, music by Foster and Schonberg. De Sylva was well know for musicals on Broadway in the 1920s and later went on to be a well known movie producer in Hollywood. He was one of the founders of Capitol Records.

 

 

 

That Quaint Egyptian Glide, 1920, lyrics by Clifton, music by Marhab. To judge from the extant examples of music sheets from the period, 1920 seems to have been a high point in the production of "orientalist" compositions.

 

 

Old King Tut was a Wise Old Nut, 1923, lyrics by Lewis, music by Denni, is one of two different compositions on the "King Tut" theme generated by the discovery of the tomb in 1922. Neither of them have anything to do with the historical figure.

 

 

 

Cleopatra had a Jazz Band, 1917, Lyrics by Morgan and Coogan, music by Coogan. There is a performance of the song on You Tube.

 

 

Mummy Mine, 1918, Lyrics by Coburn, music by Vincent Rose. Rose was a prolific composer who is in the Song Writers' hall of fame. One of his well know works is Avalon, so similar to an aria by Puccini that Rose and the publisher were sued for plagarism. There are two performances of Mummy Mine on You Tube, one from a cylinder recording.

 

 

Lady of the Nile, 1925 Lyrics by Gus Kahn, music by Isham Jones. Kahn was one of the best know song writers of the twenties, thirties and into the forties, particularly for the movies. Isham Jones was a band leader, song writer, Their best know songs together are I'll See You in My Dreams and It Had to be You

 

 

In My Harem, 1913, Irving Berlin was probably the most famous song writer of the Twentieth Century. In My Harem was written two years after the more famous Alexander's Ragtime Band. 

 

 

Ilo: a Voice from Mummy Land by, 1921 by Johnny S Black. Black was well know for two hits, Dardanella and Paper Doll.

 

 

 

 

 On the Streets of Cairo, 1920, by George P. Hulten. Hulten seems to have been Australian but biographical information for him is difficult to find.

 

 

 

 

There’s Egypt in Your Dreamy Eyes, 1917, words by Fleta Jan Brown, music by Herbert Spencer. Fleta Jan Brown was a prolific lyricist of the Ragtime era; Herbert Spencer was a composer with titles such as 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In Cleopatra’s Land, 1919, Glad. Forster

 

 

 

 

Sphinx Valse, 1917, Sydney Churcher

 

 

 

 

Mystic Nile, 1920,  Bud Green, Charlie Pieree

 

 

 

My Sarah Rose, 1919, Grant Clarke, Walter Donaldson