Ira Gershwin: The Art of the Lyricist - Softcover

What does come across in Furia's book is the flavour of the golden era of songwriting, and the towering talent of Ira Gershwin, who worked at a tortoise-like pace and polished his lyrics until they gleamed. (Sunday Times)

a fascinating and entertaining tribute to a witty, sophisticated lyricist. An extinct breed, alas. (Charles Osborne, Daily Telegraph)

In Ira Gershwin: The Art of the Lyricist, the older and less flamboyant of the Gershwin brothers at last steps out of the shadows to claim his due as one of American songwriting's most important and enduring innovators. Philip Furia traces the development of Ira Gershwin's lyrical art from his early love of light verse and Gilbert and Sullivan, through his apprentice work in Tin Pan Alley, to his emergence as a prominent writer during the golden era of Broadway and Hollywood musicals. He reveals how Gershwin took the everyday speech of ordinary Americans and made it sing.