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Archiver > OLD-WORDS > 2000-04 > 0955076062


From: <>
Subject: Re: [OLDWORDS] Re: Corn / Corned beef
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 22:54:22 EDT


In a message dated 03/30/2000 9:51:39 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
writes:

<< What then does 'corny' mean in the USA. Here it also can be used to
describe and comment on a pathetic and supposedly humorous imitative actor
or comedian.
But not so often used these days; it was in common use just after the WWll,
probably because of the Army returning home.
>>
I concur that it is not often used these days. In the thirties and forties
it was used in describing music and had somewhat the same meaning
as the term "schmaltzy" . It was used by young people to deride bands
such as Lawrence Welk or Guy Lombardo. I think that it had a rural
derivation i.e. "Corn fed " was sometimes applied to a person fresh
from the farm. In the above time period all Country and Western music
was considered "Corny" by Northeastern and West Coast young
people who considered themselves on the cutting edge. Having
grown up in the era of the big bands, I find the change and acceptance
of what used to be called "Hill Billy" music something that I would never
have believed could happen. I grew up with "Swing" music and even
that music was somewhat divided into classes based on whether a
band was considered "too commercial." The Dorseys and Benny Goodman were
considered too commercial, Artie Shaw and Glenn
Miller were right in the middle but the one that was an example of a
"pure, non- commercial band " was Woody Herman's which was true to the old
jazz scene and to its "Black Roots" or thats what we thought. These were all
"White" bands and the best "Swing" music of its time was
played by Duke Ellington. None of these bands would ever have been
thought of as "Corny" even if at times they tended to play "white" a little
more than the musical genre called for.
"Schmaltzy" music was akin to "corny" music except at the time it
was played to caricature German music. Lawrence Welk music at the
time was pure schmaltz. Eric Clapton is a good guy but he should never
have written the song about his child falling out the window of the
apartment. Although heartbreaking and I feel his pain, as music it was
lugubrious and in the old days it would have been unacceptable. It seems
that it is an example of the degeneration of popular music.

"Old Guy"

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