[78-L] Doris Day

[Don Cox]

On 17/09/2011, David Lewis wrote:
> 
> Sorry to bring this thread out sort of zombie-like, especially as so
> many correspondents were so anxious to see it expire. But I wanted to
> share my perspective.
> 
> Partly Doris' issue is a problem of classification. Once upon a time
> there was something called a "pop singer" or "pop vocalist" and that
> had a specific meaning. Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby were both pop
> vocalists whose records were in the "Pop Vocal" section of your local
> record store. In 2011, however, "pop" itself refers to an entirely
> different kind of music, and if Amy Winehouse is a pop singer, than
> Doris Day cannot be. So Bing and Frank have been re-designated as jazz
> singers, which is not too uncomfortable a designation for them,
> although I would have a hard time recognizing "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral"
> or "High Hopes" as "jazz," because these are pop songs, period. We
> have re-designated them into a category that really doesn't suit what
> they did in the "big picture" sense.
> 

Why not call the singers of that period (roughly late 1930s to early
1960s) "Popular singers" as opposed to Pop singers?

Obviously it is just a word; but then most popular "Classical" music is not
classical but romantic - words don't have to be accurate so long as we
know what we mean.

Regards
-- 
Don Cox
doncox at enterprise.net