By Rich Fisher
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-998911.mp3
Tulsa, OK – Happy New Year! On today's edition of The Best of ST, we listen to a discussion that originally aired back in August. It's a discussion that's actually as tuneful and catchy as it is interesting and entertaining, since our topic is that vast, glorious body of music often called the American Popular Songbook --- i.e., the classic pop songs and show tunes that were crafted by such 20th-century masters as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, et al. Interestingly, nearly all of these masterful songwriters and lyricists were Jewish, and this fact is the foundation for an enjoyable and often fascinating book by the noted poet and critic David Lehman. Lehman is our guest today.