Going My Way: Bing Crosby and American Culture (review)

This volume contains the proceedings of a 2002 conference on the career and achievements of the legendary vocalist held at Hofstra University. In the introduction, the notable music critic and historian as well as Crosby's major biographer, Gary Giddins, describes the performer, some twenty-five years or more since his death, as "often forgotten, or, worse, misremembered" (1). Arguably, most current music consumers fail to recognize the attraction or achievements of his mellow baritone. However, the fault might be said to arise not so much in their less than acute eardrums or skill at cultural discrimination as the generational and performative chasm between the crooner and his descendents. The affable, seemingly unconflicted and irony-free manner with which he delivered so many items from the national songbook must seem for many of them devoid of the kind of aggressive assertion of personality conveyed by the majority of their contemporary idols. To them, Crosby may well seem so relaxed as to come across as somnolent, soulless or simply sappy. Giddins argues that Crosby needs to be thought of as "the indispensable man of the 1930s and 1940s, an entertainer who represented stability in an age of turmoil." (7) Sadly, and to the detriment of many individuals, that laudable ability to elude the trap of self-indulgence and place emphasis on the content of a song rather than the influence of the performer's personality has become by-and-large outdated.

The participants in this conference strenuously endeavour to circumvent this generational collision, yet they achieve that laudable goal only intermittently. Unfortunately, the avuncular manner of Crosby's style resists if maybe simply short-circuits cultural analysis. Too many of the essays adopt a position that does little more than reinforce the known wisdom about Crosby's recordings or his radio appearances, films or public persona. They repeat with an occasionally defensive tone the virtues of a bygone era rather than establishing some novel or theoretically inspired vantage point from which either to make sense of or newly appraise his considerable achievements. The point of view that pervades the collection consequently seems more celebratory than analytic, and will appeal more to someone already enamoured of the performer than a sceptic eager to erase their doubt.

Nonetheless, some contributions merit attention. Samuel Chell's comparison of Crosby and Sinatra not only establishes the crucial distinctions between their musical approaches but also provides one of the more thought-provoking critical templates by ascribing to the former a melodramatic and the latter a modernist stance toward vocal repertoire. Elaine Anderson Phillips' discussion of Crosby's embodiment of masculinity endeavours to make sense of the overtly unaggressive element of his persona rather than simply laud its absence of audacity. Martin McQuade and Pete Hammar document Crosby's professional and financial involvement with the Ampex Corporation fuelled the revolutionary developments in reproductive technologies that led to the marketing of magnetic tape. Too often, otherwise, Crosby's unflappability seems to dumbfound his admirers, and leave readers without the necessary language or critical apparatus to convey the complexity of his overtly effortless performances or appraise the influence of his achievements upon the whole of our national culture.