ABSTRACT
By commercial we do not imply that the songs are of lesser quality, simply that they were aimed at reaching an audience via radio and records. New “commercial” pop songs of good quality tended to diminish in impact during the third quarter of the century, since air play and record distribution eventually gave preference to other song styles (chapter 2). Some veteran singers such as Sinatra or Bennett were able, in new LPs, to mix older with newly written songs by such writers as the Bergmans, Lew Spence, or Van Heusen and Cahn. But even those famous singers reached the mass market only when they had huge hits like My Way or I Left My Heart in San Francisco (and the former was a poor song). Younger singers aiming at a wide reception seldom recorded new songs in classic-pop style.
