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The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II. Ed. Amy Asch. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008; Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. By Stephen Sondheim. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010; Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany. By Stephen Sondheim. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2013

Abstract

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Type
Book Review
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Music 2013 

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References

1 For examples of relevant anthologies of song lyrics, see Herder, Ronald, ed., 500 Best-Loved Song Lyrics (New York: Dover Books, 1998)Google Scholar; Gottlieb, Robert and Kimball, Robert, eds., Reading Lyrics (New York: Pantheon Books, 2000)Google Scholar; Lyrics: Complete Lyrics for 1001 Songs, from Yesterday's Favorites to Today's Hits (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2006); and Emerson, Ken, ed., Stephen Foster & Co.: Lyrics of America's First Great Popular Songs (New York: Library of America, 2010)Google Scholar. Relevant anthologies of light verse include Kronenberger, Louis, ed., An Anthology of Light Verse (New York: Modern Library, 1935)Google Scholar; Harmon, William, ed., The Oxford Book of American Light Verse (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979)Google Scholar; Baker, Russell, ed., The Norton Book of Light Verse (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1986)Google Scholar; and Gross, John, ed., The Oxford Book of Comic Verse (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994)Google Scholar.

2 Green, Benny, ed., A Hymn to Him: The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner (New York: Limelight Editions, 1987)Google Scholar; Kimball, Robert, ed., Cole Porter: Selected Lyrics (New York: Library of America, 2006)Google Scholar; and Kimball, Robert, ed., Ira Gershwin: Selected Lyrics (New York: Library of America, 2009)Google Scholar.

3 Smith, Harry B., Stage Lyrics (New York: R.H. Russell, 1900)Google Scholar; Hammerstein, Oscar II, Lyrics (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1949; rev. ed., Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Books, 1985)Google Scholar; Lounsberry, Fred, ed., 103 Lyrics of Cole Porter (New York: Random House, 1954)Google Scholar; and Gershwin, Ira, Lyrics on Several Occasions (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959)Google Scholar.

4 Coward, Noël, “Introduction,” in The Lyrics of Noël Coward (London: Heinemann, 1965), ixGoogle Scholar.

5 Kimball, , “Introduction,” in The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983), xxGoogle Scholar.

6 Besides the Hammerstein volume considered here, Knopf's complete lyrics series includes, in order of publication: Robert Kimball, ed., The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter (1983); Dorothy Hart and Robert Kimball, eds., The Complete Lyrics of Lorenz Hart (1986) [expanded ed. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1995)]; Robert Kimball, ed., The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin (1993); Robert Kimball and Linda Emmet, eds., The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin (2001); Robert Kimball and Frank Nelson, eds., The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser (2003); and Robert Kimball, Barry Day, Miles Kreuger, and Eric Davis, eds., The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer (2009).

7 Sondheim acknowledges Peter Gethers and Christina Malach as his editors, without making clear just which editorial functions they performed beyond “patient and relentless prodding” (Finishing the Hat, 423) and “patient persistence” (Look, I Made a Hat, 431).

8 See, for example, Sondheim, Stephen, “Theater Lyrics,” in Playwrights, Lyricists, Composers, On Theater, ed. Guernsey, Otis L. Jr. (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1974), 6197Google Scholar; Oscar Hammerstein II, “Notes on Lyrics,” in Lyrics, 3–48; and Ira Gershwin, Lyrics on Several Occasions, “Foreword” and throughout.