Hear Some New 'Public Song Project' Submissions

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – "Hear Some New 'Public Song Project' Submissions"

Host: Kushan Avadar (filling in for Alison Stewart)
Producer/Guest: Simon Close
Date: March 26, 2024
Focus: Showcasing new submissions to the Public Song Project, with a particular spotlight on adaptations of Irving Berlin's work.

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Overview

This episode celebrates the ongoing Public Song Project, which invites musicians of every experience level to submit new songs inspired by works in the public domain. With WNYC’s centennial approaching, there’s a particular focus on music from the 1920s, spotlighting Irving Berlin's enduring legacy. Producer Simon Close joins host Kushan Avadar to discuss Berlin’s fascinating songwriting history and to share two new project contributions: one by indie artist Donna Shevskaya and another by Jonathan Coulton.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Public Song Project Status (01:31 - 03:32)

• Halfway mark in submission period: About six weeks remain, with the deadline on May 12.
• Everyone is welcome: “You could be in a band, you might be a working session musician, or you might just pick up an instrument in your free time. Everybody's welcome to participate.” – Kushan Avadar (01:43)
• Major names involved: Past and upcoming special guest contributors include Valerie June, Arturo O’Farrill, They Might Be Giants, Rhiannon Giddens, and Béla Fleck.
• Resources and information: Submissions and project info available at wnyc.org/publicsongproject, with resources like recording spaces at libraries and streaming of released tracks.

2. Spotlight on Irving Berlin (03:32 - 05:36)

• Focus on 1920s music: Highlighting Berlin because “a lot of the contributions we've gotten have been Irving Berlin tunes, which isn't surprising because he wrote a lot of timeless classics…” – Simon Close (03:34)
• Berlin’s biography highlights:
  • Born 1888, emigrated to NYC with Jewish Belarusian/Russian family.
  • Early job as singing waiter in Chinatown.
  • “Never learned how to read or write music… wrote all of his songs on the piano and then would, like, hire someone to transcribe them for him.” – Simon Close (04:19)
  • Lived to 101 (died 1989), possibly witnessed late 20th-century pop culture.

3. Donna Shevskaya and ‘What’ll I Do?’ (05:39 - 09:17)

• Artist background:
  • Donna Shevskaya is the performance name of Anna Beckerman; the name reflects her Russian-Jewish heritage.
  • Recently released acclaimed album, “Long Is the Tunnel.”
• About the song:
  • Berlin’s “What’ll I Do?” (1923/1924) from the first Music Box Revue.
  • Thematically about longing and absence, possibly inspired by Berlin’s late wife or fiancée Ellen McKay’s enforced absence by her father (they married anyway).
  • “The song is about missing somebody, only having a photograph to remember them by.” – Simon Close (06:23)
• Performance:
  • Donna’s version delivers an intimate, aching “sob ballad” take.
  • Notable moment: “What'll I do? When you are far away and I am blue, what'll I do?” – Donna Shevskaya (07:36).

4. Jonathan Coulton and ‘All Alone’ (10:10 - 14:06)

• Artist profile:
  • Brooklyn-based, known for “nerd rock,” and former NPR “Ask Me Another” house musician.
  • Releases all music under Creative Commons, enabling wide sharing and adaptation—“philosophically similar” to public domain.
  • “He encourages, quote, student film podcast, awesome dance remixes of all of his work. So I think just kind of philosophically it’s a similar idea of encouraging people to collaborate and adapt work—perfect for this project.” – Simon Close (11:15)
• About the song:
  • Berlin’s “All Alone,” another poignant “sob ballad” from a 1920s Music Box revue.
  • Performed with the original review’s concept in mind: separated lovers singing alone by the telephone.
• Performance highlights:
  • Coulton’s mellow baritone channels the spirit of the song’s loneliness and longing.
  • Memorable lyric: “All alone by the telephone, waiting for a ring, a tingling…” – Jonathan Coulton (12:36)

5. How to Participate and Further Info (14:06 - 14:38)

• Where to learn more and submit: Visit wnyc.org/publicsongproject.
• Why participate:
  • Access recording resources via community libraries.
  • Stream all submitted and featured songs.
  • Chance to have your work highlighted and join in upcoming centennial events.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Irving Berlin’s method:
  “He wrote all of his songs on the piano and then would, like, hire someone to transcribe them for him.” – Simon Close (04:19)
• On Donna Shevskaya’s roots:
  “Her name is Anna Beckerman, but Donna Shevskaya is ... both her middle name and her great grandmother’s surname. And a lot of her music sort of explores family and heritage....” – Simon Close (05:47)
• On Creative Commons vs. Public Domain:
  “A Creative Commons license is something that allows the creator of a work of art to still retain ownership ... but provides a pretty broad license for anybody else to adapt that work.” – Simon Close (10:55)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:31] – Introduction to Public Song Project and call for submissions
• [03:32] – Introduction of this episode’s theme: focus on Irving Berlin’s work
• [03:54] – Background on Irving Berlin’s life and songwriting approach
• [05:39] – Donna Shevskaya’s background and “What’ll I Do?” intro
• [07:36] – Donna Shevskaya performs “What’ll I Do?”
• [10:10] – Jonathan Coulton background and Creative Commons philosophy
• [12:17] – Jonathan Coulton performs “All Alone”
• [14:06] – Resources for submitting to the Public Song Project

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Conclusion

This episode offers listeners a dive into both public domain culture and the continuing influence of Irving Berlin, tying in the communal, collaborative spirit of today’s musicians. Audiences are encouraged to contribute, engage, and reimagine the songs of the past for WNYC’s centennial celebration.

For more details or to get involved: wnyc.org/publicsongproject

Transcript

[Kushan Avadar]

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[Simon Close]

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[Donna Shevskaya]

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[Kushan Avadar]

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[Simon Close]

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[Kushan Avadar]

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[WNYC Station Announcer]

Listener supported WNYC studios.

[Simon Close]

This.

[Kushan Avadar]

Is all of it. I'm Kushan Avadar filling in for Alison Stewart. And guess what? We are at the halfway point in the submission period for the 2024 Public Song Project. You've got just about six weeks left to send in your songs based on work in the public domain. And by you, I mean you who you are. You could be in a band, you might be a working session musician, or you might just pick up an instrument in your free time. Everybody's welcome to participate. Over the last couple months we've also been sharing songs from our special guest contributors for the project like Valerie June and Arturo or Ferrell. And we've got plenty of other releases in store from they Might Be Giants, Rhiannon Giddens, Bella Fleck and many more exciting names. And hey, if you submit a song you could be featured alongside them and may you could come on WNYC to talk about your song. So for more info go to our website wnyc.org publicsong project. You'll find resources including libraries where you can record your song and you can also stream the songs we've shared so far. Now for a public song, check in and to share some more music to get you inspired, I'm joined by all of it and Public Song Project producer, Simon Close. Simon, welcome.

[Simon Close]

Hello, Kusha. Thank you for having me.

[Kushan Avadar]

Thank you for finding that air horn. Really appreciate it.

[Simon Close]

My pleasure.

[Kushan Avadar]

Anything else to add about this year's Public Song Project? What did I miss?

[Simon Close]

I think you read the intro perfectly. Just to add, the end date is May 12, so please get your songs in before then. We're prioritizing 1920s songs, poems, work from the 1920s, because WNYC's centennial is coming up in July, and we might have an event or two in the works for this project, tbd. But that's another reason to maybe get involved.

[Kushan Avadar]

Awesome. So you've brought along a couple songs today. What's the theme?

[Simon Close]

Today's theme. I brought along two songs by Irving Berlin. So I've noticed that a lot of the contributions we've gotten have been Irving Berlin tunes, which isn't surprising because he wrote a lot of timeless classics, I guess. So I thought I'd bring along a couple of those.

[Kushan Avadar]

I'm sure some folks listening have heard of Irving Berlin, but might not be familiar with his work. Can you say a little bit about him?

[Simon Close]

Yeah. Irving Berlin, born in 1888 to a Jewish, Belarusian, or Russian family. They immigrated to New York in the late 19th century. His father was a Jewish cantor in Russia. So I imagine he grew up around music when he was younger. And apparently I read that one of his first jobs was as a singing waiter at a Chinatown cafe.

[Kushan Avadar]

Oh, interesting.

[Simon Close]

And then I also read, and this is sort of unbelievable, but according to the Kennedy center website, he never learned how to read or write music, despite being a prolific songwriter. He wrote all of his songs on the piano and then would, like, hire someone to transcribe them for him. And he did that for his whole career, apparently. And so that process is what led to songs like his first hit, Alexander's Ragtime Band or White Christmas Blue Skies. There's no business like show business. God Bless America is an Irving Berlin song. And then he died in 1989. So he lived to be 101 years old, which means that Irving Berlin lived long enough that he might have heard Tracy Chapman's Fast Car or seen Lethal Weapon 2 or Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

[Kushan Avadar]

And he would have been lucky to have consumed all of that. So let me make sure I get this right. He could not read or write music, so he thought of the music and had a transcriber do the actual laying down for him.

[Simon Close]

That's my. I'm not a historian of Irving Berlin, so please feel free to correct me anyone who knows better than I do. But my understanding from reading on the Kennedy center website and other biographies of him is that, yeah, he knew how to play the music, but he would have someone else actually, like, transcribe it to the sheet.

[Kushan Avadar]

So who's the first musician we're gonna hear that's adapting some of his work?

[Simon Close]

The first musician is a local indie artist who goes by Donna Shevskaya. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Her name is Anna Beckerman, but Donna Shevskaya is her performance, and it is both her middle name and her great grandmother's surname. And a lot of her music sort of explores family and heritage and her, like, her Russian, Jewish background and her. The family she comes from. She released a really beautiful album last year called Long Is the Tunnel. Rolling Stone called it one of the best indie albums of the year. And that was how I came across her. And, yeah, I thought she just has a really lovely sound to her music and was excited to get her involved in this project.

[Kushan Avadar]

Cool. So what can you tell us about the song she's going to sing?

[Simon Close]

So this song is called what'll I Do? Irving Berlin. It comes from 1923 or 1924. It was apparently first introduced in the Music Box Revue, which was the first production staged at the Music Box Theater on Broadway, which still exists today, but which Irving Berlin co founded. Yeah, first production there. So this was introduced in that the song is about missing somebody, only having a photograph to remember them by. There are different explanations for where it might have come from. I don't know if anyone knows for sure. Some say that Irving Berlin wrote it about his late wife, who had died fairly recently when he'd written it, or about his then fiance, whose name was Ellen McKay. And her father apparently disapproved of their relationship, so he sent her to Europe so that the two of them would forget about each other. Didn't work out. They got married. And I think they were married for a long time after that. Oh, wow. But this is the song what'll I Do?

[Kushan Avadar]

Okay, so let's listen. Here's Donna, or, sorry, Donna Shevskaya, with Irving Berlin's what I'll Do.

[Donna Shevskaya]

What'll I do? When you are far away and I am blue what a light too What'll I do When I am wondering How Is kissing you What I do what light to just.

[WNYC Station Announcer]

For.

[Donna Shevskaya]

God to tell my troubles to When I love.

[Simon Close]

With.

[Donna Shevskaya]

All dreams of fear that won't.

[Jonathan Coulton]

Come.

[Donna Shevskaya]

True what a l my trouble when I'm alone Dreams of you that won't come true what I do.

[Kushan Avadar]

Simon the other song you brought along today comes from Jonathan Colton, a name listeners might be familiar with. Besides being a recording artist, he was the house musician for the NPR trivia show Ask Me Another. So what do you want to add about him before we get to his song?

[Simon Close]

Jonathan Coulton, Brooklyn based master of nerd rock Something that is really interesting about him in the context of this project, I think, is that he releases pretty sure all of his music into the Creative Commons, which is not the same as the public domain, but is sort of philosophically similar to it. The difference, I guess, is that the public domain describes work that the owner no longer, the creator no longer owns. So it doesn't have a copyright attached to it, whether it never had a copyright or if the copyright expired. Whereas a Creative Commons license is something that allows the creator of a work of art to still retain ownership of the art, but provides a pretty broad license for anybody else to adapt that work. And so Jonathan has said on his website that he encourages, quote, student film podcast, awesome dance remixes of all of his work. So I think just kind of philosophically it's a similar idea of encouraging people to collaborate and adapt work perfect for this project too.

[Kushan Avadar]

He's going to be doing the song All Alone. Can you say a little bit about this song quickly?

[Simon Close]

Yep. So this was from another of Berlin's Music Box reviews. Berlin referred to this song and the last one as apparently sob ballads, which were these sort of like self pitying songs about, you know, a romantic partner, who you're away from and who you miss. And this one is all about sitting alone by the telephone. And apparently when it was first staged, they had the two actors on either side of the stage in the spotlight, just like alone singing into a telephone.

[Kushan Avadar]

Oh cool, let's listen to it. Here's Jonathan Coulton with Irving Berlin's All Alone.

[Jonathan Coulton]

Just like a melody that la you seem to haunt me night and day I never realized till you were gone how much I cared about you I can't live without you all alone I'm so all alone There is no one else but you all alone by the telephone Waiting for a ring a tingling all alone in the evening all alone Feeling blue Wondering where you are and how you are and if you are all alone too Just for a moment you were mine and then you seem to vanish like a dream I long to hold you in my arms Again My life is very lonely For I want you only all alone I'm so all alone There is no so Simon.

[Kushan Avadar]

Where can people go to find out more about the Public Song Project? And what should they know?

[Simon Close]

The website is WNYC.org PublicSongProject. That's WNYC.org PublicSongproject. They can go there to find resources for exploring the public domain places that some libraries that have offered their studios where they can record. You can also listen to all of the songs that we've released so far in full on a playlist there. And yeah, just thank you again to Donna Shevskaya, Jonathan Coulton, all of the other musicians who have agreed to be part of this. It's very generous of them.

[Kushan Avadar]

And thank you to you, Simon Close, especially for that air horn. Appreciate having you here.

[Simon Close]

Thank you, Krusha.

[Kushan Avadar]

So that's for today. Coming up on tomorrow's show, we'll be joined by Brian Kim. He's a senior staff writer at the Infatuation and a former bartender. He'll share his favorite bars, old and new around New York City. And we want to hear yours. That's tomorrow. We'll see you here, same time, same place. Have a great day.

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