This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1923.
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally, it referred to a specific location on West 28th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the Flower District of Manhattan, as commemorated by a plaque on 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth. Several buildings on Tin Pan Alley are protected as New York City designated landmarks, and the section of 28th Street from Fifth to Sixth Avenue is also officially co-named Tin Pan Alley.
Isham Edgar Jones was an American bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter.
Pete Wendling was an American composer and pianist, born in New York City to German immigrants. He often collaborated with fellow QRS pianist and composer, Max Kortlander.
"My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean", or simply "My Bonnie", is a traditional Scottish folk song and Children’s song that is popular in Western culture. It is listed in Roud Folk Song Index as No. 1422. The song has been recorded by numerous artists since the beginning of the 20th century, and many parody versions also exist.
"The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)" is a popular song composed by Isham Jones with lyrics by Gus Kahn. The song was recorded by Isham Jones' Orchestra on December 21, 1923, at Brunswick Studios in New York City, and published on January 7, 1924. On January 17 in Chicago, Jones recorded another version, with Al Jolson on lead vocals. Both versions made the charts that Spring, with Jolson's peaking at number 2, and Jones' at number 5. Sophie Tucker recorded her version February 1924, released on Okeh 40054.
"Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" is an American folk song that responds with humorous sarcasm to unhelpful moralizing about the circumstance of being a hobo. The song's authorship is uncertain, but according to hobo poetry researcher Bud L. McKillips, the words were written by an IWW member. Carl Sandburg collected the song for his anthology The American Songbag, and he wrote that it was "heard at the water tanks of railroads in Kansas in 1897 and from harvest hands who worked in the wheat fields of Pawnee County, was picked up later by the I. W. W.'s, who made verses of their own for it, and gave it a wide fame." Some verses may have been written by a Kansas City hobo known only as "One-Finger Ellis," who scribbled it on the wall of his prison cell in 1897. There is also a questionable theory that Harry McClintock, an IWW member, could have written it in 1899 when he was only fifteen.
Dave Dreyer was an American composer and pianist.
Irving Cohn was a British-American songwriter, best known for "Yes! We Have No Bananas", which he co-wrote with Frank Silver in 1923. He is sometimes credited as Irving Conn.
Bourne Co. Music Publishers is an American publisher of sheet music, and one of the largest privately held international music publishers in the world, with over three thousand titles in their catalogue. Subsidiaries include Bourne Music Canada Limited, Bourne Music France, and Bourne Music Ltd. (UK).
Mammy (1930) is an American pre-Code musical comedy-drama film with Technicolor sequences, released by Warner Bros. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, Say It with Songs (1929). Mammy became Al Jolson's fourth feature, following earlier screen efforts as The Jazz Singer (1927), The Singing Fool (1928) and Say It with Songs (1929). The film relives Jolson's early years as a minstrel man. The songs were written by Irving Berlin, who is also credited with the original story titled Mr. Bones.
The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project uses MediaWiki software, and as of 24 November 2023 has uploaded more than 736,000 scores and 80,700 recordings by 1,900 performers of more than 226,000 works by 27,400 composers. IMSLP has both an iOS app and an Android app.
Sigmund Gottfried Spaeth was an American musicologist who sought to de-mystify classical music for the general public. His extensive knowledge of both the classical repertoire and popular song enabled him to trace the melodies of current hits back to earlier sources; this talent garnered him fame as the "Tune Detective," a role he played as an entertainer, educator, and as an expert witness in cases of plagiarism and infringement of copyrighted music.
Cliff Friend was an accomplished American songwriter and pianist. A member of Tin Pan Alley, Friend co-wrote several hits including "Lovesick Blues", "My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now" and "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", also known as the theme song to the Looney Tunes cartoon series.
Frank Silverstadt, better known by his stage name Frank Silver, was an American songwriter, jazz drummer and vaudeville performer. He was best known for co-writing and co-composing the popular song "Yes! We Have No Bananas" in 1923 with Irving Cohn. He wrote at least 75 songs in his career.
"I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now" is a popular song written in 1919 by Irving Berlin. It was published by Music Publishers Inc. in New York, New York.
Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc. is an American music publishing company established in 1900.
"Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!" is a song composed by Abe Olman (1887–1984), lyricized by Ed Rose, and published by Forster Music Publisher, Inc. The music was copyrighted 7 February 1917 and the copyright was renewed 29 December 1944. Under the Copyright Term Extension Act (1998), the sheet music is in the public domain, as is all music published in the U.S. prior to 1923. Its melody and structure form the basis of a self-calling circle dance, using square dance steps and popular in summer camps.
Toot, Toot, Tootsie is a 1922 song with music and lyrics by Gus Kahn, Ernie Erdman and Danny Russo, per the credits on the original sheet music cover. Some other sources also credit Ted Fio Rito and Robert King for the song, but make no mention of Dan Russo. It debuted in the Broadway musical Bombo, where it was a major hit. It was first recorded by Al Jolson with Frank Crumit's orchestra for Columbia Records on September 9, 1922. It was further popularised by the racy singer-comedian Eddie Cantor.
Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1928, films released in 1928, and other works published in 1928, enter the public domain in 2024. Sound recordings that were published in 1923 enter the public domain.
