What Is The Meaning Of The Popular Song Brother Can You Spare A Dime By Yip Harburg And Jay Gorney From The 1932 Musical Americana?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Jay Gorney said in an interview in 1974 “I didn’t want a song to depress people.

I wanted to write a song to make people think

. It isn’t a hand-me-out song of ‘give me a dime, I’m starving, I’m bitter’, it wasn’t that kind of sentimentality”.

What was the subject of the popular song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime and who wrote and sang the original version of the song?

“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime.” Bing Crosby; Rudy Vallee. (both 1932) Composed by Jay Gorney and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime” was the show-stopping number of the 1932, Depression-era musical “

American Revue

.” The minor-key melody, according to Gorney, was inspired by a Yiddish lullaby.

Why was the song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime written?

Jay Gorney said in an interview in 1974 “I didn’t want a song to depress people.

I wanted to write a song to make people think

. It isn’t a hand-me-out song of ‘give me a dime, I’m starving, I’m bitter’, it wasn’t that kind of sentimentality”.

What group or groups of people is the song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime about?


The Great Depression

in the United States, which started with the 1929 Wall Street crash, had a severe impact on the country. In 1932, 25 percent of American men were unemployed. After his appliance business went bankrupt, Yip Harburg had gone into the music business, working as a lyricist.

Who wrote the song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Cover of sheet music to “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (1932),

words by E.Y. Harburg and music by Jay Gorney

. Written for the now-forgotten Broadway musical Americana (third version, 1932), the song was recorded by Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby.

Which sentence best summarizes the central idea of the song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

The sentence that best summarizes the central idea of the song, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime is this

one “The men begging for money on the street helped build and protect our country, and they deserve a better lot than they have been given.”

The song is a story of man who is hopeful of his faith and on what he …

Which excerpt from the song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime best emphasizes?

Which excerpt from the song, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” best emphasizes the idea that average Americans felt abandoned by the wealthy elite and the government?

I was always there—right on the job. Once I built a railroad, made it run, Made it race against time.

What does the song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime reveal about the attitudes of Americans during the Great Depression?

In the song, a man who had been rich and respected before the Depression asks people to give him money, as he is now poor. The song has come to

represent the sadness and lack of money during the Depression

.

Can You Spare a Dime Wikia?

“Can You Spare a Dime?” is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from

Season 3

. In this episode, Squidward quits his job and SpongeBob decides to let him stay at his house.

How does Brother, Can You Spare a Dime relate to the Great Depression?

The Depression was America’s lowest point because people could do nothing to help each other. In 1931 Yip Harsburg and Jay Gorney wrote Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Reflecting the American dream. The idea of the

song was to give people a distraction and get their minds off the bad times

.

What effect of the Great Depression is described in the song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime Brainly?

The song “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime”, describes

how people were losing their jobs and starving due to extreme poverty

. The men who had built and fed the nation, who had fought in WW1, were abandoned and struggling to survive.

What did Jay Gorney do before the Great Depression?

He worked his way through the University of Michigan (Class of 1917) and the University of Michigan Law School (Class of 1919) as

a pianist

. His studies were interrupted by World War I, during which he enlisted in the Navy.

What led Harburg to write the song Brother Can You Spare a Dime The biggest bread line in New York City which was owned and operated by William Randolph Hearst the realization that the prosperity of the past was completely gone and very unlikely to return the able bodied men?

the realization that the prosperity of the past was completely gone and very unlikely to return. the able-bodied men he saw begging for money and standing in bread lines in the streets of New York.

the request President Roosevelt

made to Harburg for a catchy and poignant campaign song.

What did Bing Crosby do before the Great Depression?

In 1935 Crosby moved from CBS radio to NBC, where he starred on the popular Kraft Music Hall. He worked on that show—live—for nearly a dozen years, leaving only when ABC radio allowed him to pre-record his programs

on audiotape

.

Which lines from the song Brother can you spare me a dime conveys the image?

With their hard work, these individuals had invested in their country and they deserved to be suitably rewarded. Which lines from the song, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” conveys the image of veterans who are unable to find work?

I was always there—right on the job.

Emily Lee
Author
Emily Lee
Emily Lee is a freelance writer and artist based in New York City. She’s an accomplished writer with a deep passion for the arts, and brings a unique perspective to the world of entertainment. Emily has written about art, entertainment, and pop culture.