"Chinatown, My Chinatown" is a popular song written by William Jerome (words) and Jean Schwartz (music) in 1906 and later interpolated into the musical Up and Down Broadway (1910).Ruhlmann, Breaking Records, p. 31.Garrett, Struggling to Define a Nation, p. 245. The song has been recorded by numerous artists and is considered an early jazz standard.
Composition Tin Pan Alley songwriters Jean Schwartz and William Jerome began their partnership in 1901, and collaborated successfully for more than a decade. They composed many popular songs together, including million-sellers "Mister Dooley" and "Bedelia". "Chinatown, My Chinatown" is considered their biggest hit, but it did not catch on when they wrote it in 1906, and the musical revue it was added to in 1910, Up and Down Broadway, was not especially successful.Garrett, Struggling to Define a Nation, p. 136. By the time "Chinatown, My Chinatown" became a national hit in 1915, the two were no longer collaborating.
The melody of the song uses pentatonicism, while the harmonies employ many parallel fourths and fifths, a common exoticist technique of the time based on Western stereotypes of Chinese and other East Asian musics. Through these musical techniques, as well as racist lyrics, the song contributes to the history of Orientalism.
The original tempo of the song was slow; later it was adapted to a fox-trot tempo, reflecting the popularity of the dance.Garrett, Struggling to Define a Nation, p. 153. Still later, jazz musicians played the song at a "hot jazz" tempo.Garrett, Struggling to Define a Nation, p. 121.Magee, The Uncrowned King, p. 100.
Recording history "Chinatown, My Chinatown" has been recorded by numerous artists. Several recordings in late 1914 presaged its popularity in 1915 when the American Quartet with Billy Murray had a number one record on Victor, and Grace Kerns and John Barnes Wells also had a popular recording on Columbia. The same year, Columbia also released a version by Prince's Orchestra,Garrett, Struggling to Define a Nation, p. 126. in a one-step medley with Alabama Jubilee and Sam Ash recorded an abbreviated version of it for the Columbia-affiliated, bargain-priced Little Wonder Records.Hoffman, Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, p. 96.
One of the first jazz interpretations was recorded by Red Nichols and His Five Pennies and released by Brunswick Records in 1929. At least 25 jazz renditions of the song were recorded between 1928 and 1942; seven were recorded in 1935 alone.Crawford & Magee, Jazz Standards, pp. xviii and 14. Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, and Lionel Hampton were among the many jazz artists who recorded this song in the 1930s.Crawford & Magee, Jazz Standards, p. 14. Its recording history is one of the elements that qualifies it as an early jazz standard.Crawford & Magee, Jazz Standards, p. ix.
Subsequently, the accordionist John Serry Sr. also recorded an easy listening arrangement of the song for RCA Thesaurus in 1954.Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester - Sibley Music Library: John J. Serry Sr. Collection "John Serry Sextette" Audio recording for RCA Thesaurus of arrangements and performances by John Serry at the RCA Victor Studios in 1954 p. 18-19 The John J. Serry Sr. Collection archived at the University of RochesterEastman School of Music - University of Rochester - Sibley Music Library: John J. Serry Sr. Collection "John Serry Sextette" audio recording for RCA Thesaurus of arrangements and performances by John Serry at the RCA Victor Studios in 1954 p. 18-19 The John J. Serry Sr. Collection archived at the University of Rochester
See also List of pre-1920 jazz standards
Notes
References Citations
Bibliography
Birnbaum, Larry. Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock 'n' Roll. Rowman & Littlefield (2013). . Crawford, Richard; Magee, Jeffery. Jazz Standards on Record, 1900–1942: A Core Repertory. Chicago: Center for Black Music Research Columbia College (1992). Garrett, Charles Hiroshi. Struggling to Define a Nation: American Music and the Twentieth Century. University of California Press (2008). . Goldmark, Daniel. Tunes for 'Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon. University of California Press (2005). . Harrison, Max; Fox, Charles; Thacker, Eric; and Stuart Nicholson. The Essential Jazz Records: Modernism to Postmodernism. A&C Black (2000). . Harvey, Adam. The Soundtracks of Woody Allen: A Complete Guide to the Songs and Music in Every Film, 1969–2005. McFarland (2007). . Hoffmann, Frank. Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound. Routledge (2004). . Jerome, William; Schwartz, Jean. "Chinatown, My Chinatown" (sheet music). New York: Jerome H Remick & Co. (1910). Magee, Jeffrey. The Uncrowned King of Swing: Fletcher Henderson and Big Band Jazz. Oxford University Press (2004). . Moon, Krystyn R. Yellowface: Creating the Chinese in American Popular Music and Performance, 1850s–1920s. Rutgers University Press (2005). Reinhart, Mark S. Chet Atkins: The Greatest Songs of Mister Guitar. McFarland (2014). . Ruhlmann, William. Breaking Records: 100 Years of Hits. Routledge (2004). . Tyler, Don. Hit Songs, 1900–1955: American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era. McFarland (2007). .
External links "Chinatown, My Chinatown", 1914 recording by the American Quartet with Billy Murray, at the Library of Congress National Jukebox "Chinatown, My Chinatown", 1928 recording by Art Gillham, at the Internet Archive, Audio Archive