Songs in American History

Rise of the Popular Song 1755-1859

1755 - Yankee Doodle by Richard Schuckburg at Fort Crailo in Albany
1792 - La Marseillaise by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle
1794 - The Galley Slave by William Reeve from the opera The Purse
1800 - Greensleeves and Shenandoah folk songs
1808 - Tis the Last Rose of Summer by Thomas Moore from Irish Melodies
1814 - Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key
1823 - Home, Sweet Home by Henry Bishop and John Payne from the opera Clari
1828 - Hunters of Kentucky by Samuel Woodworth
1830 - Jim Crow by Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice
1831 - America by Samuel Francis Smith
1847 - Oh! Susanna by Stephen C. Foster
1848 - Simple Gifts by Joseph Brackett
1851 - Old Folks At Home by Stephen C. Foster
1859 - Dixie by Daniel Decatur Emmett

Songs of the Civil War 1860-1865

1861 - Bonnie Blue Flag by Harry McCarthy
1871 - The Internationale by Eugene Pottier
1892 - After the Ball by Charles K. Harris
1893 - America the Beautiful by Katherine Lee Bates
1893 - Snake Charmer song from The Streets of Cairo by Sol Bloom to introduce Little Egypt
1898 - Hot Time In the Old Town by Theodore Metz and Joe Hayden
1899 - Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin
1910 - La Cucaracha Mexican folk song
1917 - Over There by George M. Cohan
1918 - When You Come Back by George M. Cohan
1930 - Worried man Blues by the Carter Family
1939 - Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen with lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
1941 - Lili Marlene by Marlene Dietrich
1941 - Reuben James by Woody Guthrie
1942 - Treasury Star Parade with Robert Montgomery
1943 - Flying Home by Glenn Miller
1950 - Good Night Irene by the Weavers and Gordon Jenkins with Pete Seeger
1954 - Shake, Rattle and Roll by Joe Turner
1954 - Such a Night by Clyde McPhatter
1955 - Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets
1957 - Day-O by Harry Belafonte
1958 - Tom Dooley by the Kingston Trio
1959 - Merry Minuet by the Kingston Trio
1960 - Crying in the Chapel by Elvis Presley
1961 - Where Have All the Flowers Gone? by Pete Seeger
1962 - Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds, sung by Pete Seeger
1962 - Surfin' Safari by the Beach Boys
1963 - If I Had A Hammer by Pete Seeger, sung by Trini Lopez
1963 - Waist Deep in the Big Muddy by Pete Seeger
1964 - Where Did Our Love Go? by Diana Ross and the Supremes
1964 - Draft Dodger Rag by Phil Ochs
1965 - Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire
1965 - Ballad of the Green Berets by Sgt. Barry Sadler
1965 - I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag (Vietnam Rag) by Joe McDonald - Country Joe and the Fish
1965 - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place by The Animals
1965 - I Fought the Law by Bobby Fuller
1967 - It's In His Kiss (Shoop Shoop Song) by Diana Ross and the Supremes
1967 - Respect by Aretha Franklin
1969 - Okie from Muskogee by Merle Haggard
1970 - Ohio by Neil Young
1970 - War by Edwin Starr
1970 - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by Joan Baez
1971 - Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti by Joan Baez
1971 - What's Going On? by Marvin Gaye
1973 - Burnin' and Lootin' by Bob Marley
1975 - Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
1976 - Hotel California by the Eagles
1979 - My Life by Billy Joel
1979 - Dukes of Hazzard TV theme by Weylon Jennings
1979 - Rapper's Delight by Sugarhill Gang
1980 - Hells Bells by AC/DC
1982 - Valley Girl by Frank Zappa
1982 - If Heaven Ain't A Lot Like Dixie by Hank Williams, Jr.
1983 - Beat It by Michael Jackson
1983 - God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood
1984 - Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen
1985 - Bonzo Goes to Bitburg by the Ramones
1989 - Fight the Power by Public Enemy
1989 - Looking for Freedom by David Hasselhof
1989 - Song of the South by Alabama
1990 - From a Distance by Bette Midler
1990 - Get Here by Oleta Adams
1990 - Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana
1992 - Casualties of War by Eric B. and Rakin
1994 - Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
2002 - The Ketchup Song by Las Ketchup
2003 - Songs of patriotism and protest



Links:

1900-1950 Top Hits
1950s Top Hits
1960s-1990s Top Hits
1990s musical timeline
A Brief History of Banned Music
Charles H. Templeton Sheet Music Collectionat Mississippi State University includes 22,000 items including blues, rags, movie tunes, show tunes, Irving Berlin, war songs, and minstrel songs.
Motown and Berry Gordy
Popular Music Since 1955 at Bowling Green University
Radio Desert Storm
Rock and Roll Library (RRL)
Rock Around the Clock at 45
Songfacts
Vietnam Rag by Joe MacDonald
Vietnam Songs from Vietnam Retrospective
Virtual Gramophone of National Library of Canada
Local pages: Radio in World War II and Recording Technology History and Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen and the eras of Carter and Reagan andBush and Clinton


revised 5/1/06 by Steven Schoenherr at the University of San Diego