| Description | Dudley Bayford talks about his career in the music publishing industry. The interviewer is probably Geoffrey Reeves.
Track 1: Test tone, 0.39 mins
Track 2: Dudley Bayford talks about starting work in the 1920s as a shop assistant selling sheet music, he tells how he joined the 'song plugging section', did some arrangements, and became an editor, 2.20 mins
Track 3: He talks about the pop music of those years: ragtime, the arrival of feature films and the need for music with an atmosphere, the beginning of the BBC and of recording companies, he talks about pop song in the 1930s, which had the best type of pop song, he talks about changes in taste in music after the Second World War, 4.33 mins
Track 4: He says that culture in pop songs comes from the person who has to score it, songwriters often can't play or write, he says today's songs are getting worse because they are losing a sense of form, he doesn't like today's songwriters, and talks about chords, melody, and words, 1.54 mins
Track 5: The interviewer asks about lyrics in the 1930s and the relationship of pop to the American musical, he says that the melody is the most important thing about a pop song, he talks about the purity and simplicity of 1930s songs, the orchestration of songs in the 1930s, 4.23 mins
Track 6: He talks about the kind of people who bought sheet music from the shop he worked in for three months in 1928, he talks about changes in musical taste, which extends to clothing and demeanour, the pop song has deteriorated into a two pulse beat, the song is not important, but a personality is, the songs are not memorable and do not survive, today's songs do not compare to songs of the 1930s, 3.50 mins
Track 7: The interviewer suggests that songs are sold on personality now in the same way that songs were associated with people like Marie Lloyd or Eugene Stratton, he talks about the affection between artists and audience; today it is not a question of affection, but personal possession, people take sides, 2.35 mins
Track 8: The interviewer suggests that most records today are marketed for the teenage market; in the 1930s, pop music appealed to a wider group, he says that the songs used to be more important, he talks about the charts and the dominance of sales, 3.37 mins
Track 9: He talks about songwriting in the 1930s - in the 1930s, songwriters used to be accomplished musicians; today they are not, he talks about songwriters he knows, he talks about weakness in present day pop - people today are too interested in the artist, 4.58 mins
Track 10: The interviewer asks about the writer's position in the industry, he says the formula has not changed, things are cheaper for the recording companies, 2.08 mins
Track 11: The interviewer suggests that pop song continued in the same vein between the 1930s and the 1950s and asks what happened in the years after the War, he talks about changes in Hollywood films which didn't require certain types of song, the rise of folk songs, 3.37 mins
Track 12: Silence, 2.13 mins
Total: 36.49 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D0779880 |