Tin Pan Alley

Selected Resources from the Music Department - Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

What is Tin Pan Alley? Who is Tin Pan Alley? Where is Tin Pan Alley? Can I get recordings of Tin Pan Alley songs? Can I find the printed music for Tin Pan Alley songs?

No matter your question, the Music Department at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has the answers when it comes to this prominent segment of American popular song. We have books that discuss various aspects of Tin Pan Alley, the composers and lyricists (biographies abound!), the history, the influences on and how it influenced subsequent music history, and even a book on how to get into Tin Pan Alley written in 1939! We have printed music for an amazing number of songs including the complete Irving Berlin and George Gershwin among others and collections of popular songs by decade. Our CD and DVD collections also feature many Tin Pan Alley composers and the artists who made their songs famous.

Selected Resources:

Furia, Philip and Michael Lasser
America’s songs: The stories behind the songs of...Tin Pan Alley.
ML 3477 .F87 2006

Goldberg, Isaac
Tin Pan Alley: A chronicle of American popular music.
780.973 G57a

Gottlieb, Jack
Funny, it doesn’t sound Jewish: How Yiddish songs and synagogue melodies influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood.
qML 3776 .G65 2004

Jasen, David A.
Tin Pan Alley: An encyclopedia of the golden age of American song.
qML 102 .P66 J37 2003

Jones, Arthur et al
How to crash Tin-Pan Alley: The authoritative handbook for a successful songwriting career (1939)
780.973 J39

Knapp, Raymond
The American musical and the formation of national identity
ML 1711 .K6 2005

Meyer, Hazel
The gold in Tin Pan Alley
ML 3561 .P6 M5 1977

Scheurer, Timothy, ed.
American popular music: Readings from the popular press, volume I: The nineteenth century and Tin Pan Alley.
ML 3477 .A45 1989

Smith, Kathleen E. R.
God bless America: Tin Pan Alley goes to war
ML 3477 .S65 2003

Smith, R. Grant
From Saginaw Valley to Tin Pan Alley: Saginaw’s contribution to American popular music, 1890-1955
ML 3477.8 .S24 S65 1998

Tawa, Nicholas E.
The way to Tin Pan Alley: American popular song, 1866-1910
ML 3477 .T42 1990