A Crackerjack Playlist

People who attended my reading at Little Joy Coffee last night got a bonus slice of entertainment, although some may not have noticed; it was subtle. The music that played over the coffee shop's speakers as patrons ordered drinks and nibbled on cheese, crackers and (G.) olives was inspired by my book, Crackerjack Bands and Hometown Boosters: The Story of a Minnesota Music Man.

Author Joy at Little Joy/photo by Heather Lawrenz

Author Joy with Giant G/photo by Steve Lawler

The book explores the life and career of my paternal great-grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs. If you're not familiar with its structure, I'll explain. It's a book of memoir and biography, told in alternating chapters. The titles of the even-numbered, biography chapters are taken from popular songs of the day, from the time period the chapter covers. For example, Chapter 26 is titled The Night We Called it a Day, which is the name of a song published in 1941; events in that chapter take place between January 1941 and January 1946.

In an early version of the book, I included song lyrics at the start of each biography chapter, but I ditched that idea that when I realized it could cause copyright problems — and also because I was seeking to reduce the manuscript's total word count.

(The titles of the odd-numbered chapters don't have anything to do with songs, except for Chapter 21: Building My Wings. That title was inspired by a part of the chapter that eventually got cut, where I talk about a song St. Paul composer Elizabeth Alexander wrote for the Northfield Youth Choirs, Jump! The song incorporates text from a Ray Bradbury poem: "Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down." Although that part wasn't included in the final version of the book, I felt the title was still appropriate for what happens in that chapter.)

Steve, Elias and me (and my delicious crackerjack steamer); photo by Heather Lawrenz

In case you couldn't attend last night's reading, or if you did and want to hear the songs again, here's the list I gave to Little Joy event planner extraordinaire Carrissa Glarner:

• You Won't Do Any Business If You Haven't Got a Band, George M. Cohan (Chapter 6)

• I'm Sitting Pretty in a Pretty Little City, the Georgians (Chapter 12)

• I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle, Bessie Smith (Chapter 14)

• Back in Your Own Backyard, Billie Holliday (Chapter 16)

• On the Sunny Side of the Street, Louis Armstrong (Chapter 18)

• Rhythm is Our Business, Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra (Chapter 20)

• Let's Face the Music and Dance, Nat King Cole (Chapter 22)

• Do I Worry? The Ink Spots (Chapter 24)

• The Night We Called it a Day, Diana Krall (Chapter 26); there's also a nice Frank Sinatra version

Astute readers will notice that not all of the biography chapters are represented in this list. That's because I couldn't find good links for the songs that are connected to Chapters 2, 4, 8 and 10. In their place I have listed four other songs mentioned in the book. It seems appropriate to conclude with some John Philip Sousa marches!

• Herbert L. Clarke's Bride of the Waves

• Sousa's The Charlatan

• Sousa's The Washington Post

• Sousa's El Capitan