WWII In American Music: Pearl Harbor & Reaction
WWII In American Music: Pearl Harbor & Reaction
Part 4: Pearl Harbor & Reaction
Hawaii Before The Attack
Relations between the United States and Japan, strained in the 1930s over Japan's foreign policy in China and the resulting failure of Roosevelt to invoke the neutrality act, only worsened in 1940 and 1941. In July 1940, the American government placed an embargo on all scrap iron, steel, high octane gasoline, and aviation lubrication oil going to Japan. On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, making them allies. On January 7, 1941, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph C. Grew in Tokyo warned his superiors, "There is a lot of talk around town to the effect that the Japanese, in case of a break with the U.S., are planning to go all out in a surprise mass attack at Pearl Harbor. I rather guess that the boys in Hawaii are
not precisely asleep." Though it's clear now that America was on a path toward war with Japan throughout the 1940s, no one really expected any attack east of the Philippines. Hawaii, not yet a state, was to Americans a dreamy paradise in 1941.
The most popular movie made about Hawaii up to that time was Waikiki Wedding (1937), starring Bing Crosby. Full of grass skirts, palm trees, and sweet Crosby crooning, Waikiki Wedding helped crystallize in the minds of many Americans the image of Hawaii as a carefree paradise. Later, during the war years, a medley of the songs from this movie would be sung again by Bing Crosby on a V Disc. Waikiki Wedding is referred to in the medley introduction as, "A foolish fable of those faraway times." The songs below help show the total disconnect between the reality of war and tragedy that was soon to unfold on that Pacific island paradise.
Images of Hawaii as a paradise prevailed right up until the Japanese attack. In March 1941, Sammy Kaye recorded "Hawaiian Sunset," yet another interpretation of Hawaii as a tropical, romantic paradise:
Hawaiian Sunset, soft shadows falling,
The hush of twilight, and lovely you.
Hawaiian Sunset, I hear it calling,
and in the sunset I'll come to you.
Even the cover of the sheet music evokes beauty, love, peace.
Johnny Noble made a career out of promoting Hawaiian-themed music to the American mainland in the 1920s and 1930s. His song, "It's Heaven in Hawaii," also released in 1941, would be one of the very last of its kind:
It's Heaven In Hawaii
The palms are swaying as you and I are straying
beside a silver sea
It's Heaven In Hawaii
On December 7, 1941, 350 Japanese planes launched in two waves from six aircraft carriers attacked the American navy and army facilities on Oahu, killing 2,400 Americans and forcing America into a war.   Reaction to the Attack Song titles and lyrics about the attack on                                    Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the War                                    are often vicious and full of themes of violence.                                    Intense competition among sheet music and record                                    producers in Manhattan's Tin Pan Alley meant                                  that songs were
written and rushed into production                                  days or even hours after the attack. These songs                                    thus captured the raw anger, humiliation, and                                    feelings of betrayal that most Americans felt                                  about Pearl Harbor. The attack also made it                                    socially acceptable to express these emotions                                    in ways that took on not just connotations of                                  nationalism and patriotism, but also of race. Though his was not the first song                                    penned following the attack, composer Charles                                    Tobias's song "We Did It Before (and We Can Do it Again)" was                                    the first to receive air play, thanks to his                                    brother-in-law singer Eddie Cantor, who performed                                    the song on his radio variety show Wednesday                                    night, December 10. More upbeat and less vicious than many that                                    would follow, the song was a reminder of the                                    country's effort to make the world safe for                                    democracy a generation before, and an acknowledgment                                    of the work that lay ahead; work that could                                    possibly take as many as ten years to finish.                                    Exceptionally popular, the song was recorded                                    by multiple artists, including Carl Hoff and                                    his Orchestra (with vocals by The Murphy Sisters),                                    Dick Robertson, Barry Wood, Clyde Lucas, and                                    Eddie Howard.
Sheet Music: "We'll Knock The Japs Right Into The Laps of the Nazis (1942)
New York composers                                           were practically tripping over each other                                           trying to get their (sometimes) hastily                                           conceived works published. Some forgettable                                           submissions included "Let's Take                                           a Rap at the Japs," "Taps for                                           the Japs," "We've Got To Do                                           a Job on the Japs, Baby," "Oh,                                           You Little Son of an Oriental," "When                                           Those Little Yellow Bellies Meet the Cohens                                           and the Kellys," "We'll Knock The Japs Right Into The Laps of The Nazis," (a weak effort at waging a two-front war in a single song), and "We're                                           Going to Find a Fellow Who Is Yellow and                                           Beat Him Red, White and Blue." In                                           an act of selective racism, one submission, "The Japs Haven't Got a Chinaman's                                           Chance," was renamed "The Japs                                           Haven't Got a Ghost of a Chance," out of sensitivity over America's Oriental allies. In an era of overt racism, there were now good Orientals and bad Orientals.
It's fairly                                          well known now that most Americans did                                          not know what "Pearl Harbor" was before December 7, 1941. After                                          December 7, everyone knew, and the place                                          was quickly immortalized in the battle                                          cry, "Remember Pearl Harbor!" Within days songs appeared invoking the                                          name. An advertisement in the December                                          17 issue of the show business journal Variety proclaimed, "America                                          Will Never Forget...WE'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER                                          PEARL HARBOR...The Song the Waves Are                                          Singing Along Hawaiian Shores." This                                          song, pictured to the right, was written                                          by Alfred Bryan, Willie Raskin, and Gerald                                          Marks and published by Mills Music. Several                                          competing versions of the song were also                                          in the works, most notably Don Reid & Sammy Kaye's version, the title shortened to just "Remember                                          Pearl Harbor." A third version was                                          penned by Johnny Noble, the composer mentioned above with                                          a catalogue of Hawaiian-themed songs. A fourth version with racist lyrics was written by Frank                                        Luther and recorded by Carson Robison.
"Remember Pearl Harbor" (Reid) by Dick Robertson (1942)
Most of the other Pearl Harbor-inspired songs are much darker, more violent, and often                                    overtly racist. America had been taken                                    by surprise at Pearl Harbor. Worse, the Japanese                                    has not conducted themselves in accordance with                                    Western notions of "fair play". Negotiations                                    in Washington were ongoing. Admiral Kichisaburo                                    Nomura, the Japanese Ambassador to the United                                    States, and special envoy Saburo Kurusu had arrived                                    at Secretary of State Cordell Hull's office                                    an hour after the attack began with a letter officially breaking off negotiations. As President                                    Roosevelt noted in his December                                    8 address before Congress , "The distance                                    of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the                                    attack was deliberately planned many days or                                    even weeks ago. During the intervening time                                    the Japanese Government has deliberately sought                                    to deceive the United States by false statements                                    and expressions of hope for continued peace." The Japanese admiral who had planned the attack,                                    Isoroku Yamamoto, was familiar with ancient                                    Chinese military theorist Sun Tzu's Art of                                    War, in which he declared, "If the                                    enemy opens the door, you must race in...when                                    the enemy opens the door--be like a fleeing rabbit. The enemy will be unable to withstand                                    you." Furthermore, Japan had begun all of their modern                                    wars with a surprise attack. This tradition                                    enabled Yamamoto to successfully argue for the                                    preemptive strike. The late delivery of the                                    letter to Secretary Hull, the "sneak attack," and the delay of a formal declaration of war                                    until the evening of December 7 made the Americans                                    feel they had been stabbed in the back. The                                    atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in                                    China were well known, but in the early months                                    of 1942 there would be more, this time perpetrated                                    against America and her allies. To Americans,                                    these were not the actions of a civilized people.                                  Many Americans were angry and wanted revenge.
"Remember Pearl Harbor" (Luther) by Carson Robison (1941)
Two recordings most notable                                      for their themes of revenge and anger                                      appeared on sides A and B of a December                                      1941 Bluebird release by Carson Robison.                                      This performer had earned a living and                                      reputation as a cowboy and hillbilly artist                                      throughout the 1920s and 1930s, spending                                      many of those years working with Vernon                                      Dalhart. His most prolific years were                                      before 1930, but with the attack on Pearl                                      Harbor, Robison found a temporary niche                                      as a novelty song artist. Robison's version                                      of Frank Luther's "Remember Pearl Harbor," while emphasizing the sneak attack, manages                                      to call the Japanese "rats," "vultures," and "yellow                                      scum" (no longer deserving of being                                      considered our "little brown brothers").                                      Twice he advocates killing all Japanese,                                      managing in the last verse to invoke both                                      religion and the patriotic duty of all Americans to help support the war effort                                      by buying more war bonds.
On the B side                                      is a rather amazing anti-Japanese recording, "We're Gonna Have To Slap The Dirty                                      Little Jap (And Uncle Sam's The Guy Who                                      Can Do It)," written by Bob Miller.                                      This song, also refers to
the Japanese as "yellow." While this is undoubtedly a reference                                      to the "cowardly" act of a sneak                                      attack, it also seems clear that use of                                      the word is part of the common race caricature                                      of Japanese seen throughout the war. Even                                      the sheet music is yellow. The Carson                                      Robison version of this song did not include                                      the third verse. However, that verse was included in a version recorded                                      by Lucky Millinder on February                                      18, 1942.
The remaining releases with "Pearl                                      Harbor" as part of the title were, "Cowards                                      Over Pearl Harbor" by Denver Darling; "Pearl Harbor Blues," by Doctor Clayton; and "Wasn't That An Awful Time at Pearl Harbor?," by the
"Wasn't That An Awful Time at Pearl Harbor?" by the Selah Jubilee Singers (1942)
Selah Jubilee Singers. Darling's melancholy                                          country song is unusual in that it is                                          somewhat devoid of anger. Rather, the                                          narrator is saddened how the attack has                                          spread the war to the rest of the world.                                          The dishonor of the sneak attack is emphasized,                                          and he questions what the Japanese adults                                          will tell their children. The narrator                                          also questions how the Japanese will explain                                          their deeds come judgment day, and one                                          gets the impression that whatever their                                          explanation, it will not be satisfactory.                                          Doctor Clayton's song is an African American                                          blues masterpiece, with gripping piano                                        work and moody, contemplative lyrics.                                          Clayton points out how frustrating it                                          is that the United States sold scrap iron                                          to the Japanese for years before the embargo                                          of 1940. The song also perpetuates the                                          stereotype that the Japanese are not "hard                                          fighters." By the end of the war,                                          Americans would have to admit that the                                  Japanese did indeed fight ferociously.
Perhaps the most frequently used                                                rhyme in the anti-Japanese songs                                                of WWII is that of rhyming "Jap" with "sap." The word sap                                                has somewhat fallen out of use today,                                                but it refers to someone who is                                                a dupe, who is gullible and can                                                easily be convinced to do the bidding                                                of others. While it may be that                                                the rhyme was obvious enough to                                                provide an easy insult, it's also                                                true that part of the American stereotype                                                of the Japanese at the time was                                                that they were not clever enough                                                to have independently conceived                                                of, or carried out a plot as big                                                as Pearl Harbor. Indeed, radio                                                commentary on the day of the                                                attack revolved around speculation                                                that the Japanese were actually                                                doing the bidding of the Nazis,                                                that the attack was part of Hitler's                                                grand strategy to provoke the U.S.                                                into declaring war on Germany. Rumors                                                even surfaced, and were published                                                in American Newspapers, that German                                                ships and pilots had participated                                                in the attack. More than half of Americans believed                                                this myth until documents captured                                                in Germany in May 1945 proved otherwise. The most ubiquitous use                                                of "sap" was in the song, "You're a Sap, Mr. Jap." Written by James Cavanaugh, John                                                Redmond, and Nat Simon, it was recorded                                                by Carl Hoff on December 23, with                                                vocals by The Murphy Sisters, and                                        by Dick
Robertson on January 9,                                      1942. Two notable lines also convey                                      another common anti-Japanese attitude,                                      that they were errant, diminutive                                      children who had incurred the parent-like                                      wrath of America:
You're a sap,                                        Mr. Jap, you make a Yankee cranky
You're a sap, Mr. Jap, Uncle Sam                                        is gonna spanky
The song was                                      also featured in a Popeye                                      cartoon by the same name in                                      1942, produced by Famous Studios.
"You're a Sap, Mr. Jap" was one of the first songs written after Pearl                                      Harbor. Another, written on December 7, was                                      Sam Lerner's, "The Sun Will Soon Be Setting                                      (For The Land of The Rising Sun)". While Lerner gets credit for being                                      the first to use Japan's motto of "The                                      Land of The Rising Sun" against her (as                                      well as the first to strike a blow for Capitalism),                                      he also gets credit for what is perhaps the                                      most ludicrous of all WWII rhymes:
They came while we slumbered like a thief                                        in the night
But their days will be numbered by the mighty                                        right of our dynamiteA more intriguing                                      song was "
The Son of a Gun Who Picks                                      on Uncle Sam." Written by Yip Harburg                                      and arranged by Burton Lane, it was perhaps                                      a little ahead of its time by
"The Son of a Gun Who Picks on Uncle Sam" by Carl Hoff & the Murphy Sisters (1941)
acknowledging                                  that, though America is a country of many different factions, those factions set                                  aside their differences when it comes                                  to national pride and defense. It was                                  written in December 1941 and recorded                                  by Carl Hoff, with vocals by The Murphy                                  Sisters. The song was featured as the                                  finale in Panama Hattie (1942),                                  the film version of the Cole Porter musical.
"Bomb Tokyo" by Music Operator Band (c. 1942)
Though the Japanese started the                                      war, one of the common themes in WWII music                                      is that it would be America who would finish                                      it. A few songs were quite prophetic. One of                                      these is the amazingly racist "There'll                                      Be A Little Smokio In Tokio," performed                                      by Don Baker. The AHC could not find a release date for this Continental recording, but it                                      seems likely to have been before the Doolittle                                      Raid on April 18, 1942, when there was indeed                                      a little smoke over Tokyo. That smoke would                                      pale in comparison to the amount that would                                      be generated in 1945 when the city was firebombed                                      several times by American war planes. Another                                      song The AHC was not able to find the recording                                      date for is "Bomb Tokyo" by Music                                      Operator Band. This too was likely recorded                                      before the Doolittle Raid, as it makes reference                                      to Americans fighting in the Philippines.
Another                                      prophetic song was "They Started Somethin'                                      (But We're Gonna End It!)." Written in                                      December, 1941, it was recorded by Kate Smith                                      on December 16 and contained these lyrics:
Oh! They started somethin'
"They Started Somethin' (But We're Gonna End It) by Kate Smith (1942)
  Reaction: National Readiness and Mobilization
One of the more                                          infectious melodies of the entire War                                          was the song "Goodbye Mama (I'm Off                                          To Yokohama)", in all of its variations.                                          Written by J. Fred Coots, it contains                                          a few of the cleverer rhymes. While many                                          a song came up with obvious rhymes for                                          the word "Jap," Coots was a                                          little more ambitious with his rhyming                                          of "mama" with "Yokohama," and especially with this one:
A million fightin' sons-of-Uncle Sam,                                          if you please, Will soon have all those                                          Japs right down on their Japa-knees